Earlier Threads: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Halo:%20Spartan%202%20War%20ReportsActive Spartan Roster: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eO7rkImgBlWVU-gdeY4-e5qp3pC8IiGApewbHqlnRq8/edit?usp=sharingSpartan Sven-033 Dossier https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jR1N--hxRrd9QZ0l6UmrcOkFfKNrXvHGRvVemdNE3y4__ [ Current Mission: Mission 7: Operation: CROWS-NESTDIFFCULTY: HEROIC/ LEGENDARY[ CAMPAIGN : Diversionary Actions ][ Primary Objective 1: Disrupt and Sabotage Covenant Activities on Former Colony Alpha Corvi II ][ Secondary Objective 1: Destabilize local Covenant Chain of Command / Neutralize Area Leaders & Commanders ][ Secondary Objective 2: Gather intelligence concerning the Covenant non-military aspects/ Operations ][ Optional Sub-Objective: Find out the fate of Alpha Corvi II's Civilian Population, and if possible, rescue any survivors ] Secret Objective 1: Prevent Khalil Shahi from leaking the location of nearby colonized systems] Secret Objective 2: [ Neutralize the Yanme'e Queen below Jamshid ] Secret Objective 3: [File Encrypted]_Current Loadout M45E Shotgun & M319 Grenade Launcher Secondary: Narq Dart Pistol & 1 Energy pistol Melee: Integrated Hook + Recovered Energy Sword [High charge remaining]. Grenades: x2 Napalm, x2 Flashbang, x2 Fragmentation, x1 Plasma. Armor: MJOLNIR Mark IV/ OCEANIC + CMN Attachment + Rebreather+ UA Attachment_"Secure the Covenant artifacts and technologies in the room, first" You ordered Mike, eyeing the floating crystals and gesturing towards the data vaults, taking a step towards the transmitter vali was slotted into "We'll follow Anton and Cal, once we've cleared the room of all that we can carry. Everything in here is to be considered high priority materials and intel, anything we take, will serve the war effort""Going to be a close shave" Mike said, glancing at the door before grabbing one of the levitating crystals, turning it around and inspecting it as you knelt down and got to work cutting wires that had melted and fused together, trying to free the data chip Vali had been contained on before you let him out on his "Walk", to see if it was at all salvageable and you could retrieve even a fragment of the fork you'd brought down into the war zone.The data they'd gathered and in the field learning would be invaluable, if it could be extracted and added to the main or future branches of Vali. Mike paused, looking down at you before nodding knowingly and moving across the room, pulling up a floor covering that looked to be made of a material between silk and chitin and folded it into a knapsack, stuffing every loose artifact and device into it as he methodically cleared the room while you performed digital surgery to free up the partially melted data chip from its hastily juryrigged housing.Cont
>>6477308"What's the prognosis?" Mike asked, suddenly, after a few tense minutes of splicing and scrapping away wires and globs of rapidly cooling, melting alien metals."Don't have high hopes. But there'll be fragmented processes and construct data left behind, that could be extracted and returned to the primary program" You answered as you finally managed to loosen and release the charred and deformed data chip, wincing as you turned it around an inspected its surface. It always hurt to see the kind of damage Vali could and would do to themselves when they let loose. Stowing the chip back into the hardcase, you grabbed hold of one of the other textile mats on the floor and go to work helping Mike collect and secure every piece of Covenant tech that wasn't nailed down, along with the artifacts of clearly non Covenant Origin. There was a locket made of a strange, metallic material that had a density closer to cotton that seemed to hum at your touch and looked remarkably similar to the recovered relics from the unknown alien facility on the uncharted world you'd discovered. You were gentle when you placed it in your own knapsack made out of a probably priceless and highly religiously significant Covenant Rug. Mike was right, the deadline was tight and there was a lot to grab.And only so much you could carry. You prioritized the artifacts and devices of unknown function, before grabbing examples of "Known" Covenant technology, like the data storage bricks or a belt of what looked like miniaturized anti gravity projectors, like the kind Covenant Vehicles were often equipped with. You could carry more than Mike, and did so, having two knapsacks to his overstuffed one by time he began to make for the open window and you shoveled and shoved everything you could fit into the bundles, kneeling down to adjust the positioning of a few items that looked delicate when you froze. Movement on the motion tracker, footsteps coming towards the door. There was a loud bang as you turned. The frozen, sealed portal sparked. And a red dot on your tracker moved back, as clearly they were employing the Brute Force method of opening a lock. You turned to Mike and nodded, not sparing a momentary glance to what you had to leave behind as you finished your adjustments and tied up both of your sacks.And then your eyes fell on the abandoned, floating chair the Covenant Minister had been seated in before your tranq'd them. And had an idea.>[Scrounger+ Giant] Take it with you, who knows what the techs could learn from taking it apart>[Giant] Pick it up and slam it into the door, to delay the hostile force for a few seconds longer>[Plasma Wiz+ Wunderkind] Hit a few buttons you recognize from Covenant weaponry, and aim the chair at the door before leaving>Forget it and leap out the window. You'll figure out your landing once you're out of the enemy's line of sight>Write in option
>>6477309>[Scrounger+ Giant] Take it with you, who knows what the techs could learn from taking it apart"this is mine now."
>>6477309>>[Scrounger+ Giant] Take it with you, who knows what the techs could learn from taking it apartYoink
>>6477309>>[Scrounger+ Giant] Take it with you, who knows what the techs could learn from taking it apart
>>6477309>[Scrounger+ Giant] Take it with you, who knows what the techs could learn from taking it apartA minister chair is pretty high tier and useful. with the shileds, grav mod and assault canons. so lots of things to learn from it. especially with engineers.
>>6477309>[Scrounger+ Giant] Take it with you, who knows what the techs could learn from taking it apartSure as shit beats walking
>>6477317>>6477322>>6477326>>6477327>>6477388"Dear diary, here I am, built to be the greatest badass humanity has ever made, and as a mission objective I'm shopping at Ikea. Faen ta livet mitt..."
>>6477309>[Scrounger+ Giant] Take it with you, who knows what the techs could learn from taking it apartSven must pillage.
I just want yo say this fellas.One of the stupidest highlights of this quest that I love is our willingness to steal everything and anything not nailed down to the floor, and considering the incredible feats of strength mk.II Spartans are capable of performing, they can also take everything that IS bolted down. Concrete and all.So the fact we're stealing the alien mobility scooter kills me. Another question would be who will pilot it.
>>6477406I don't know what to tell you, the Codex As- wait no wrong huge men stealing things.
>>6477309>[Plasma Wiz+ Wunderkind] Hit a few buttons you recognize from Covenant weaponry, and aim the chair at the door before leavingStealing it will be fun but IMO it's just needless weight. And also probably one of the most likely things here to be trackable.
>>6477406Sven is a space viking. It's only natural that he returns home with plunder and captives.
>>6477422Still a shame there's no female aliens he can capture and add to his sex slave harem.Well actually that'd be pretty cool. The problem is that there are no sexy female aliens. The splitjaws, are assholes, the brutes are assholes that stink, the birds are all of that plus they shit everywhere, and their leaders look like old people......Damn.
>>6477406Michael us our tech expert so probably him.
>>6477435>all our brothers and sister: "BUT SVEEEEN! IT'S MY TURN TO SIT IN THE HOVER CANNON CHAIR!"
>>6477427>Still a shame there's no female aliens he can capture and add to his sex slave harem
>>6477427
>>6477441>>6477449I'm an unapologetic goon. This is a fact. It's just unfortunate that all the aliens in the Halo franchise are kinda ugly. Well, the birds would be fuckable if they actually cared about hygene.
>>6477452We're all fucking perverts, but there's a time and place for that and it's called anywhere else but here.
>>6477453Speak for yourself, I've never fucked a pervert in my life.
>>6477309>[Scrounger+ Giant] Take it with you, who knows what the techs could learn from taking it apartSince Michael's going out the window, I guess we're driving this shitbox and using it to provide overwatch.
So climbing down. What we think of the idea i have throw around about going for the escape ship likely placed at top of the tower? The idea is having Mike use it for rapidly go down. Admittely we would have some Sasquatches in the way, but I consider that an opportunity.>>6477309>>[Scrounger+ Giant] Take it with you, who knows what the techs could learn from taking it apartChair time. Hehe i guess it can go like in the meme image i made previous thread.>>6477406On this quest, i evaluate all possible loot and attempt to loot it afterwards. And I consider aliens, alive or dead, loot as well. Its why in the Yanme Queen Chamber i insisted on searching for eggs, grab organs and cybernetics, and so on. Too bad we didn't grab a whole Yanme drone corpse there. Unfortunately the Yanme Queen corpse is rotting and was in a difficult place for tranaport. Real shame there. But we do have living eggs so Project Stockholm Insect Family might be made and greenlighted by ONI once those become Yanme larvae. Too bad we don't have living Yanme for ONI to study.Anyway even with this admittely sorrowful experience, right now valuable loot that exist in this tower exist still. There is also named and breathing loot like, Captain Teckyis, Captain Kestidion and Captain Protector Gikirbus. All 3 of them are still something i would want to grab. Hopefully they will attempt to follow us. Narq them or knocking them out in melee would be great XD !!!>>6477427Halo aliens, are really alien looking. Which is perfect in my opnion. So different standard of beauties. That Tengu female pirate captain we captured during Flyswatter could be considered a 10/10 bird by Tengus, but for us and humanity is just an excellent alive capture that we brought home to be studied and interrogated has long as possibile. And an ugly alien bird.Also.Its not gonna go like that. Sven is in multiple sights. Sights of great and powerful predators. Determinated ones. Ferocious ones. Unstoppable ones. Starving ones. If Sven is a norwegian cat purring in a forest this are bears and wolves searching for a cat-shaped meal. Mousy ship comms operators with their clumsy and cute ways, Maternal and Religious shaped Digital Entities with their warmth and care, Spartan Sisters with their affection and camraderie, and saved ONI agents stalking in the shadows wanting to give something back while checking the calendar ...... its gonna be a battle for the ages, and to the victor the Sve- Spoils, anon......
>>6477460Oh, to be clear, I'm suggesting combining this with this:>[Plasma Wiz+ Wunderkind] Hit a few buttons you recognize from Covenant weaponry, and aim the chair at the door before leavingExcept we fly this thing down the tower shooting as we go.It'll be cramped as shit and Sven'll probably have his knees up around his ears, but I'm pretty sure it'll work.
>>6477483Yeah that makes sense, thank you.Well, I can live without being an absolute goon, so nothings really lost, and those bug eggs? Do you think we should carry extra sedatives in the future to try and catch one alive? Maybe next mission we could requisition or make a high powered dart rifle?Do you think the bug aliens work dort of like bees? Like, if you feed a larve royal jelly, it'll become a queen?Do we know what John's been up to? I hope he's been looting like his big bro (not nessessarily older) Sven.Speaking of, how shot is canon? Slight AU, or "we took canon out in the backyard and shot it in the head" kind of changed?How does ONI and the various alphabet organization feel about the Spartans? I think it should be positive?
>>6477588Np>and those bug eggs?Captured from the queen chamber. Specifically in the ex-subterranean Yanme hive colony under Jamshid. This queen was basically an ally of the New Minister of Archeology (sleepy guy currently captured by us) and was placed under Jamshid, granting her colonization rights in exchange for providing cheap labour to the New Minister and cheap troops to the Brute Tribe land forces. A win-win political situation for the long-neck priest and the walking-carpet savages that we made sure to destroy and fill with water.>extra sedativesAbsolutely !! Yes. Animal-related ones used for deer, dogs, bears, wolves, rhinos, bulls, and horses should be suitable for most Covenant aliens. But in regard to the Yanme Hive Queen, it should be mandatory for Spartans to have access to sedatives for elephants and other larger animals. Those should work well even on Mgalekgolo Hunters.>high powered dart rifleDefinitely something to ask about! I think we can send it as a request to send down to ONI scientists and also have it made a standard weapon in the Spartans' arsenal. Sounds feasible. Nothing wrong with our dart pistols; they have proved pretty good, but something like that should help us.> bees?Well, I don't remember everything about the Yanme hives, but in general they have some common traits with animals like bees, ants, and so on. But what I can tell you is that Sven & co secured different types of eggs from that chamber. We looked for remarkable differences while looting them. So we believe we might have a queen egg and different drone eggs.>JohnJohn is currently in a delicate operation with Blue Team to steal a second Covenant spaceship. We don't know the details, but John & co managed to place themselves well to ensure they can attempt this capture.>canonI would say slight AU; everything added is all plausible. There are new Insurrectionist movements, new variants of MJOLNIR, new weapons (Evil Eye etc...), new vehicles (TYPHON vehicle family) etc.... stuff like that. More Spartans II survived the procedures; no Spartans have died in combat so far, and efforts for the Washouts are being made. There is more, and the docs hold a lot of this that you can see.>ONIMixed. Lab rats, super-soldiers to use, excellent minds and soldiers, brilliant humans that shouldn't have been treated like this. Not everyone has the same opinion. No one can deny the success of the Spartans, though. So any detractors shut their mouths or salivate so far. Sven also made some friends with a few ONI who are quite positive, like Dr.Okar or Agent Gloria Barlow. A member of its crew, Coste, is ONI too, and she has so far a good opinion of Sven so far.
Ah ONI took one of our Washouts siblings which is not something Sven liked at all.
>>6477618>Those should work well even on Mgalekgolo Hunters.I don't expect it will. Since those are actually a ton of worms and not a single organism I don't think injected sedatives would work. Maybe a topical spray or an aerosol would work better on them, but if you shot a juice pack into one it would probably just kill the individual worm it hit and do nothing else. But we don't know that since we haven't encountered one of them big wriggly beatsticks yet. So let's just forget anything was said.
>>6477632You make a good point that such a standard sedative could hit only a single worm organism, but. It's far funnier to request these sedatives anyway and try them in the future when Mgalekgolo are encountered. Even if it's guaranteed failure. Failure is learning. The reason for having these sedatives is simple. See, we don't know if Mgalekgolo exist since we haven't encountered them so far, but there is no reason not to request said sedatives for elephants or larger animals. Because we have reason enough to want them already, with the hive queen we found and killed. We are justified in requesting them since Sven killed a large insectoid alien leader that would shrug off sedative made for smaller animals with ease. So no worries.>a topical spray or an aerosol would work better on themLikely, sure.
>>6477309>>[Scrounger+ Giant] Take it with you, who knows what the techs could learn from taking it apartngl if High Command dosnt give us another promtion for our sticky fingers and stratigic actions then their doing drugs
>>6477665I'd prefer favors so we can do things for our Spartans or Sven. Feels like meeting his dad would be another jotunn upgrade based on how going home did.
>>6477309>[Scrounger+ Giant] Take it with you, who knows what the techs could learn from taking it apartour chair lol
>>6477689I want to max out Sven's physical tags so we can beat beat hunters with another hunter.
>>6477806It would be funny if we could catch a Hunter in a flying armbar while its firing and cause a teamkill that way.
>>6477806Better hope maxing out brawler let's us pick up Brute then.
Might not update tomorrow/ later today. My throat started hurting a few hours ago and its really distracting. Might have an infection or something
>>6477827Lemon juice and honey in hot water, then gargle with saltwater for a day or two, is my advice.
>>6477827Check that throat, don't panic
>>6477827Eat raw garlic with ketchup.
>>6477859
>>6477864What are you, four? Raw garlic is good for you.
>>6477916The garlic is fine bro, but why ketchup?
>>6477971Would you rather eat the garlic with mustard? Mayo? Come on man, you can eat the garlic raw sure, but you dont have to be a savage about it. The ketchup is for flavor.
>>6477980Honey might be a better option.
>>6477980I mean you could also just roast it or fry it up a little in a pan with some seasoning.
>>6477980Doesn't garlic cause inflammation or blood thinning? One of the two I forget which. If your aim is the antibacterial or antiseptic properties just swallow some hand sanitisizer like a man come on.
[ Rebooting...Monitor404TormentedCache, Back online ] 10 Votes for [S+G]2 Votes for [G:PW + W]Sven-033 once again proving his expertise in battlefield foraging [ Decision made ] [ Proceeding...] >>6477829>>6477850>>6477859Didn't go away after sleep, but some lozenges I found helped out a lot, even after I made it worse by using too much salt in a salt water gargle. Getting some tea helped
>>6478011>Remember the age old wisdom, Sven, pillage THEN burn.
Or more accurately, a calculation. To figure out how much that floating chair weighed. With the Anti gravity system deactivated, it'd be pretty heavy. Looked decently armored and equipped and the creature comforts include in its designs would only increase the load. So you ran the numbers, neurons flashing quicksilver as you estimated how many kilos it'd weigh. And with a generous over estimate, if your calcs were correct. You could easily deadlift and carry the Minister's Seat. And who knew what ONI's Section 3 could learn from taking it apart. It might be as valuable as Persephone or the Cockroach Eggs you'd secured during the Jamsid side of the op."Going to be delayed, don't wait" You say over COMMs before securing your shotgun to a magstrip on your back and circling around the still levitating chair once, examining every nook and cranny and figuring out the best grip point and angle to hoist it. You found it to behind the back, which is where you'd grab it by. Too much weight was situated on its bottom. It'd just be like lifting a log. Adjust into a deadman carry, once you were able to overhead press it. Cracking your hands, you tied the satchels you'd made and secured them with a tight knot. The banging on the door to the room grew more persistent and regular, as one red dot was joined by three on the edge of your motion tracker's effective range.Taking in a deep breath, you crouched and wrapped your arms around the back, then deactivate the floating mechanism defying gravity and bowed your legs as you the weight in your arms tripled. And it was just a little more than your daily warm up on the Skidbladnir's gym. The door dented, and that was your signal to hustle. Breathing out, you lifted with your legs and hoisted up the chair, lifting it over your head, muscles pushing to their limit and starting to burn before you settled the weight on your shoulders. It was an awkward carry, but with the span of your shoulders and all the muscles supporting them, you were able to move to the window before the door came down, in a crab walk shuffle that would've beaten at least one of your records back at Basic. Not that it meant much, as you set those records before ASTER & MJOLNIR.But the door didn't last long enough against the Brute force of the Sasquatches before you could figure out how to go over. You fall into Spartan time immediately, heart skipping a beat as you, with both arms occupied, are a sitting target. But you don't freeze, the enemy does. The first one through the breech, shaking there head, shoulder armor dented from the force of their impacts, stops and stares. First enraged, then baffled then horrified as they take in the site in front of them, jaw slack with disbelief as they see an armored, blue silver figure that is closer to their height than any human they've encountered before, staring at them silently behind a visor separated by metal bars.Cont
>>6478029And carrying the holy throne of the VIP they were trusted with watching, deadlifting it towards the open observation window like a reverse Santa Claus. Burgular, your mind finds the correct term as it catches up rapidly with the situation as time slows to a crawl but events move like they were a replay being fast forwardedAnd you see a familiar, one eyed face and one that looks similar push past the alien Moa in headlights. Teckyis and what must be Gikirbus. If it wasn't for the disfigurement and similarity, you might've mistaken them for any other stinking ape on the Covenant's pay roll. The former, freezes, looking horrified as he recognize you and looks to go through a few stages of PTSD in a moment, his eyes tear away to look at the other monkey in charge, who after a second of hesitation, draws a gun you haven't seen carried by any of the Covenant ground forces on Alpha Corvi II or anywhere else.His arm swings up, but with the assistance of Spartan time and your enhanced reflexes, you might as well have a full minute to react to the action.>[Maverick: Daredevil Maneuver] Leap out the window, and ride the chair down to the base of the tower, hoping it can handle a long fall>[Giant + Brawler: Open Hand] Toss the chair at the Sasquatch Commanders, giving up the loot to make a clean escape >[Diplomat 3] with body language alone, convince the other Sasquatches that shooting you, right now, is a bad ide and will risk the Minister's life>[Bulwark: Unbreakable] Take the shot and get out the window, fast, with the up armored attachments on your suit and the distance, you'll be fine>Write in option Also good news everyone, Mom is out of the hospital. She's on an O2 tank now, but I'm just glad she's back home
>>6478030>[Maverick: Daredevil Maneuver] Leap out the window, and ride the chair down to the base of the tower, hoping it can handle a long fallWill be funny if it works
>>6478030>[Maverick: Daredevil Maneuver] Leap out the window, and ride the chair down to the base of the tower, hoping it can handle a long fallTime to fall in style. We have engineer to fix any damage
>>6478030>[Maverick: Daredevil Maneuver] Leap out the window, and ride the chair down to the base of the tower, hoping it can handle a long fallUhhhh... we're taking it to get cleaned. Yeah.
>>6478030>Also good news everyone, Mom is out of the hospital. She's on an O2 tank now, but I'm just glad she's back homeAyyy nice. Remember, no smoking. >[Bulwark: Unbreakable] Take the shot and get out the window, fast, with the up armored attachments on your suit and the distance, you'll be fineBoogeyman and the Unbreakable has a combo that inspires mortal terror, right? Or is that at the next level? It'd be pretty fucking cool though. This guy who is making the monkey next to you hyperventilate is a sitting duck so you shoot him, it doesn't seem to work and now it's staring at (You) and you get the distinct impression that it is here to take the Minister to hell and if you do that again it's going to take you as well. I'd shit my pants. I want to give these apes generational trauma by doing nothing. Also don't want to risk hurting the relics in an unplanned rapid descent and potential sudden stop at the end, the chair would probably be fine but the gribblies tied to it in bags maybe not.
>>6478030Adding this to whichever vote wins>Sven: "No one will ever believe you."
>>6478038Look tower surfing is too cool a stunt to pass up. And the fact no rolls means it should be auto pass
>>6478030>>[Maverick: Daredevil Maneuver] Leap out the window, and ride the chair down to the base of the tower, hoping it can handle a long fallHahaha!Funniest thing ever: the demon in the flying minister chair! Hello Teckyis, Gikirbus, and Kestidion! Try and catch us ! (Please try so I can narq you; otherwise, Vali will devour you in the flames and detonations of this tower! Come on, "best" scions of this tribe of walking carpets !).>>6478011>>6478030That's better to hear.
>>6478030>[Maverick: Daredevil Maneuver] Leap out the window, and ride the chair down to the base of the tower, hoping it can handle a long fall
>>6477859>>6477864>>6477916>>6477971>>6477980>>6477985>>6477988Never change, 4chan.
>>6478040I dunno it feels less "tower surf" and more "aim for the bushes". Both of which are certainly cool but nothing really truly compares to the classic no-sell.
>>6478030>[Maverick: Daredevil Maneuver] Leap out the window, and ride the chair down to the base of the tower, hoping it can handle a long fallSeconding >>6478039
>>6478062https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMVJzcWV6fw
>>6478030>>[Maverick: Daredevil Maneuver] Leap out the window, and ride the chair down to the base of the tower, hoping it can handle a long fallgod this is gonna be funny to read in a report nglalso glad to hear you mom is doing better
>>6478030>[Maverick: Daredevil Maneuver] Leap out the window, and ride the chair down to the base of the tower, hoping it can handle a long fallAs if there's any other option.
>>6478139Eh it not even on the same level as John pushing out a bomb out a ship then Guiding it to a covenant ship in the middle of a space battle.So really were just giving an appetizer just wild Spartans can get
>>6478030>>[Maverick: Daredevil Maneuver] Leap out the window, and ride the chair down to the base of the tower, hoping it can handle a long fall>Sven: "No one will ever believe you."
>>6478039>>6478030Supporting this addition
[Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache, back online ] 10 votes for [M:DM]3 Votes for witty one liner1 Vote for [B:U]For a brickshit house, he'll fly pretty good...hopefully [ Decision made ] [ Proceeding... ]
You analyze the situation in a second, eyes darting. Gikirbus, assuming you're correct on your guess of the soon to be shooter's identity, is dressed in non standard, custom gear. Subtle differences of the armor pieces they are wearing and rather than solid ammunition in their bandoliers, which are thinner and also wrapped around their waist and thigh, are stocked with finger sized metal cylinders topped with a trio of metal needles. And most telling, they're wearing what looks like an armored gasmask, that looks adapted from one of the Hunchback's breathing systems, but upgraded and up armored. You can't see their eyes behind the green-yellow haze clouding them up.You take a step back, realizing they were looking for a gap in your arm as their arm swung up from the holster they had just pulled their pistol from. And that their free was behind their back, and judging from the tensing of their muscles under their fur, they had gripped tightly to what you expected was a knife. Probably poisoned. And the dart they were a nervous twitch away from shooting probably wasn't a tranquilizer.Acting immediately, you roll your shoulders and toss off the chair as you take another step back, tossing it back as the two other captains present below and roar, reacting a second later and opening fire as the eerily calm poisoner just tilts their head and adjust their aim. Metal Spikes impact around you, puncturing the floor or wall as your back hits the ledge and you roll back. A glint of purple metal flies over your head. He'd been aiming at the under armor around your neck, waiting for you to move so the up armored attachments and exaggerated shoulder pads of the OCEANIC variant of MJOLNIR were out of the way. Wonder if that calm was chemically aided.Free falling, you lock onto the chair plummeting like a rock and adjust your position, folding your arms and legs to dive quicker and hasten your descent as shots are fired above you and your motion tracker lights up. You collide with the chair, sending both it and yourself into a spin as you spread out your legs and clamp on. One hand shoots out and grabs the knapsack of looted Covenant artifacts and devices, while the other reaches for the control panel hidden in the arm rest of the chair. One eye tracked the speed of your fall by watching the rapidly changing elevation levels your HUD was recording, and the other looked for any "Rune" That was recognizable [ Trait + AP interaction. Wunderkind + Jotun. Preferred Candidate Sven-033 finds the right button in time ] And found it, your fingers slid over it as you tried not to focus on the fact you were a few meters from reaching the bottom of the tower. Expecting whiplash, you found none. The momentum of your fall vanished. All of it. Instantly. That felt like it violated more than a few laws of physics and gravity. Cont
>>6478467Scrambling into the too small seat, you looked up, and saw, a small shadow staring out from the point you'd just fell. And saw Mike hanging on the wall a bit further down, stopping to watch, confirming your situation before continuing to scale down the tower.Hoping off the levitating throne and falling the last few meter, you waited for more fire, but it seemed the apes up top were smart enough to realize they'd just be wasting ammunition considering the distance. And after the adrenaline started to trickle down, you also realized that it was entirely possible they thought the Minister, their VIP, was with you. Which was something you could exploit"Sven, you leapt off the tower?" Anton asked over the COMM frequency "Saw it with my own eyes, why would I lie?" Mike added"Saw it on my own HUD, just need to confirm" Anton explained"Had a cushion ready" You told them "How's sleeping beauty""Stable" Cal was the one to reply "Your condition? It is the stop that kills you, not the fall""Like I said, Cal, I had a cushion ready" You say "Head in the game, Spartans. Double time to the garage, original escape plan is still viable""What about you, Sir?" Cal asked as you looked around, one hand on the chair as you moved it out of the direct sight line of the captains at the top of the tower"I have a plan. Focus on extracting the target. We'll regroup. Until then, Mike, you're calling the shots up there"What you didn't tell them, was that you were still figuring out your plan. But that was a minor detail. And you were good at thinking on your feet...>With loot in tow, move like you're trying to escape the fort, hoping the Covies think you're the one with their Minister (DC 23. Bulwark +5, UA attachments +1, SQ: Spartan +2 ) >[Grenadier: Plasma Wiz + Wunderkind] Rig the chair to blow and use it as a distraction (DC 16. DC reduced by 10 (From 26) via trait Wunderkind and specialty plasma wiz) >[Diplomat 3] Create a fake hostage situation, using the high status and importance of the target to create an opportunity to escape and a distraction for your team. >[Maverick + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] Take the chair for a joy ride [DC 22. +1 Plasma Wiz, +3 Scrounger, +4 THE HERETIC HAS WHAT?! (Maverick) ]>Write in option
>>6478469>[Maverick + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] Take the chair for a joy ride [DC 22. +1 Plasma Wiz, +3 Scrounger, +4 THE HERETIC HAS WHAT?! (Maverick) ]Those covenant that survive are likely never going to forget this.
>>6478469>>[Maverick + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] Take the chair for a joy ride [DC 22. +1 Plasma Wiz, +3 Scrounger, +4 THE HERETIC HAS WHAT?! (Maverick) ]Oh I bet this fucking thing is BUSTED.
>>6478469>[Maverick + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] Take the chair for a joy ride [DC 22. +1 Plasma Wiz, +3 Scrounger, +4 THE HERETIC HAS WHAT?! (Maverick) ]If we don't know what we're doing then the enemy can't anticipate our actions, simple as.
>>6478469>[Maverick + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] Take the chair for a joy ride [DC 22. +1 Plasma Wiz, +3 Scrounger, +4 THE HERETIC HAS WHAT?! (Maverick) ]
>>6478469>[Maverick + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] Take the chair for a joy ride [DC 22. +1 Plasma Wiz, +3 Scrounger, +4 THE HERETIC HAS WHAT?! (Maverick) ]We're full health so time to go full cool, daredevil and fun.
>>6478469Actually 404 we should still have te +2 Jotun bonus right?Or has the looting made it pass?
>>6478469>>[Maverick + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] Take the chair for a joy ride [DC 22. +1 Plasma Wiz, +3 Scrounger, +4 THE HERETIC HAS WHAT?! (Maverick) ]
>>6478469>>[Maverick + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] Take the chair for a joy ride [DC 22. +1 Plasma Wiz, +3 Scrounger, +4 THE HERETIC HAS WHAT?! (Maverick) ]ngl this feels like a dumb choice but its also the FUN choice
>>6478469>[Maverick + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] Take the chair for a joy ride [DC 22. +1 Plasma Wiz, +3 Scrounger, +4 THE HERETIC HAS WHAT?! (Maverick) ]This is going to give someone who reads the report at the minimum a headache.
>>6478469>[Maverick + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] Take the chair for a joy ride [DC 22. +1 Plasma Wiz, +3 Scrounger, +4 THE HERETIC HAS WHAT?! (Maverick) ]Mike stole and blew up a pelican in training and generally loves taking risks for the hell of it, and even he seems lost for words. Same with Adriana in the previous thread when Nesta did something risky. Gray Team seem to be realizing what it's like being on the other side of craziness.>>6478539Beta-3 division should appreciate the chance to analyze this field test data if nothing else, I reckon. They don't even have to risk their lives and limbs like they usually do when studying Covenant tech.
>>6478442Hey, got kind of a big favour to ask, do you mind hitting me up on Discord?
>>6478551>Beta-3 division should appreciate the chance to analyze this field test data if nothing else, I reckon. They don't even have to risk their lives and limbs like they usually do when studying Covenant tech.well i mean we are about to hand over some Huragok to beta-3 so thats not really going to happen anymore
>>6478469It worked!>>[Maverick + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] Take the chair for a joy ride [DC 22. +1 Plasma Wiz, +3 Scrounger, +4 THE HERETIC HAS WHAT?! (Maverick) ]Chaos!! Let's see if we can catch the three captains unorganized
>>6478469>>[Maverick + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] Take the chair for a joy ride [DC 22. +1 Plasma Wiz, +3 Scrounger, +4 THE HERETIC HAS WHAT?! (Maverick) ]Ok, Imma vote for this but I want to remind you all that our little digital sociopath is going to be trying to cover our escape and waiting for us to get clear before going ham on the Covenant. Being a visible target is one thing, just fucking around is another. Let's go blow up something expensive and book it to the evac.
Have we stolen any Covenant ships yet?I feel like if we had some AI support to prevent the ship from warping or self destructing, and a lot of ammo, we could clear a whole ass ship and bring it back to ONI wrapped in a bow.
>>6478775We captured the Unrelenting in Chi Ceti.
>>6478779With just a flashlight btw. Wild shit.
>>6478780whats fucked up thats actually true
>>6478775Yes, in Flyswatter.No, here it would have been too difficult to do. Too many aliens. Too many ships. And you still need to board a ship first and foremost. Considering everything else we have done here... not enough time for it.We also have an AI with Vali, but he needs precise direction if you want something not left burning or dead of the aliens.
[ Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache, back online] 12 votes for [ M+G:PW] 100% vote to take the Minister's fancy chair for a joyride [ Decision made ] [ Please roll 1d20+8. DC 22. Bo3 ] >>6478532Combat/ scene ended
Rolled 8 + 8 (1d20 + 8)>>6478952Don't mind me, just criting.
Rolled 1 + 8 (1d20 + 8)>>6478952I foresee a roll of 15.
>>6478956>>6478957I believe there was a bit of a slip-up on intended results kek. It would appear Sven pushed the wrong button.
Rolled 17 + 8 (1d20 + 8)>>6478952>>6478957oh shit a self-destruct sequence
>>6478957 [ Error Code: RED! A critical failure is predicted! All members of Faculty, take cover! ] Crit fail and 2 degrees of failure, going 13 under the target. This is going to be interesting [ Proceeding....]
>>6478960>Vali accidentally got into the chair
>>6478964Oh well shame to lose the chair, but it is what it is.
>>6478968We have our tank damage available.
>>6478968Nah that's per mission and we used it already again the yanmee queen.
>>6478970Welp, let's just hope it just gets banged up.At least a wrecked Prophet's chair is still good?
And what was occupying most of your immediate thoughts at the moment was the mechanical throne of the Covenant Minister. You knew it was equipped with integrated weapon systems. You recognized a few of the runes and characters on the control panels, they were close or identical to a number of symbols that show up on Covenant energy weapons and their sights. You don't know what they mean, but you know their presence means there's a weapon and now that you've got it out in the sand you can see the ports and creases where the weapons should emerge from. The seat is a bit small for you, but the back is sturdy and wide enough for you to hang off of. Just like when there weren't enough seats on a warthog or there was a scorpion to hitch a ride on. Hopping up the back, you lean forward to tile the chair forward and lean forward to reach the control panel from the awkward position you'd taken, just as the fort came alive with alarms. Nothing on your motion tracker yet, but you knew when a party was about to start. And it was just common sense to know how to use the weapon you had before taking it to field. This went against every protocol and maxim for field testing unknown gear, but it would make an effective distraction for your team and should be just as an effective means of escape once you got the hang of the controls. This portion of the AAR would probably be a bit light on the details of why exactly you decided to commandeer the enemy VIP's fancy chair and take it out for a joy ride.And as you figured out the basic movement, acceleration and brake, turning you could accomplish with momentum and throwing your weight around, your hand brushed up against one of the switches in the tightly packed panel under the left arm rest. And suddenly your vision was replaced with a blue white flash of light like the smiting strike from the namesake of your armor. A high voltage electric discharge exploded out of the chair, forming a temporary but strong EMP blast that reached a radius of about six meters. Your suit locked up as the electrocution did the same to the meat inside of it. Muscles tensed and froze and you felt neurons snapping as your train of thought derailed momentarily. Electrocution wasn't anything compared to ASTER or Plasma burns, but it still hurt. And judging from the delay you felt in your heart beat, this security measure would've flash fried an ordinary soldier. MJOLNIR, lived up to its namesake, acting as a wearable faraday cage. And what lightning didn't conduct and shoot down it and got through the inner layer to zap you, well.You were just that durable that once the self defense EMP died down and the current ceased, that you got back on your feet. You'd been thrown off the back of the Minister's chair, three meters from it and could taste ozone and blood. Your suit was still coming back online, but you had the brute strength to move despite it still being locked up. Cont
>>6478976 [ Sven-033 AP: Bulwark: Unbreakable and MJOLNIR Armor reduced incoming damage down to Minorly Injured ] Lifting your arms, you stopped thinking to stop MJOLNIR from having too much of a backlog of nervous signals to go react to and repeat on a delay as it, effectively rebooted as the electromagnetic interface stopped. It started moving, catching up to the moment, thrashing and twitching, and you were focused on not remembering what the non Spartan Testers had happen to them when they put on the MJOLNIR prototypes, clenching your fists, tightening your core and flexing your muscles to resist MJOLNIR's repeat of your electrocution. "Helvete" You groan through your teeth, flicking your tongue to get the taste of iron and static out of your mouth as your HUD comes back online, and you can see clearly in front of you. And see three Sasquatches, trying to cut you off from the chair. First responders. You crack your neck. Judging from the weight differences, some of your ammunition cooked and went off. None of the grenades had, thankfully. You mimicked the random, twitches to keep the enemy thinking you were disabled from the shock as they closed in. One placed a hand to their helmet, a very familiar motion, and barked. That probably meant reinforcements. Three would become six, becomes twelve.>Lunge, draw the energy sword and try to take the head off the Sasquatch calling in more troops (DC 17. +3 Bladebreaker (1/2 brawler), +1 Giant, +1 Plasma Wiz)>Bounce a grenade off the still sparking chair, and send a Wodenhal hello to behind the Sasquatches (DC 18. +5 Grenadier) >"Quick Draw" Your shotgun and kneecap the closest Sasquatch and make them your meat shield (DC 16. +2 Jotun, +1 Shotgunner, +2 SQ: Spartan-II)>[Giant] Kick the still electrified chair at them (DC 17. +1 Giant, +2 SQ: Spartan-II )>write in option
>>6478977>"Quick Draw" Your shotgun and kneecap the closest Sasquatch and make them your meat shield (DC 16. +2 Jotun, +1 Shotgunner, +2 SQ: Spartan-II)Lowest DC and gives us a shield to fight withm probably best after taking that ceitfail.
>>6478977>"Quick Draw" Your shotgun and kneecap the closest Sasquatch and make them your meat shield (DC 16. +2 Jotun, +1 Shotgunner, +2 SQ: Spartan-II)That could've been worse.
>>6478977>>"Quick Draw" Your shotgun and kneecap the closest Sasquatch and make them your meat shield (DC 16. +2 Jotun, +1 Shotgunner, +2 SQ: Spartan-II)Well no more joy ride, guess we have to go old fashion and very much survive the chaos we are about to make. We are on foot and without the chair weapons at our disposal. We have our share of loot from the Tower. Might be damaged with that electruction. Well at least we know Minister chairs can do that now.Goodbye chair that might just blow up. Aquire a Meat shield, a solid meat wall to use. Maybe this soldier even survives for us to bring home, consolation prize. We just need to create some chaos here mot face the entire garrison + ceremonial guards that are running below to the tower entrance. And then get either inside the innie warthog or the innie scarab that our Spartans bros will drive out of that garage. Funny thing i wonder if Mike is capable of telling the Gas balls to follow their newly aquired vehicles. Probably no. Its not exactly in his cards to learn and talk a complete different language on the spot. Maybe he can mimick the intent well enough though.
>>6478985Might still be able to keep the chair and forerunner artifacts are pretty sturdy.
>>6478977>Lunge, draw the energy sword and try to take the head off the Sasquatch calling in more troops (DC 17. +3 Bladebreaker (1/2 brawler), +1 Giant, +1 Plasma Wiz)How embarrassing.
>>6478988Depends when our Spartan bros arrive with warthog and scorpion. But the current arcs still coming out of said chair, dont inspire confidence, maybe it was an ultimate kind of weapon and not a repeteable one so that button might have it explode in even more arcs. Who knows.I don't mind throwing it inside the scorpion when it arrives. But we might be a tad too occupied. That Brute has already talked in his helmet prior to options. So things are not going has we want. Forerunner artifacts are sturdy, but not indestructable. With the garrison coming in we are about to face high rates of firepower. Those artifacts are currently just in a loot bag. Anyway i think we will have to go for some brutalities next turn on some of this brutes soldiers. The Boogeyman kind, nothing else. Need that "undead demon" aura right about now. And we need to make fear and terror for win here, too many numbers, need theatrics.
We probably have 4-6 combat turns before our bros arrive with the two innie-huragok modified vehicles suddenly bringing their firepower and temporarily ending the engagement we are about to have with the fort garrison and possibly ceremonial guards. The situation is about to get spicy what with Gikirbus, Teckyis and Kestidion being here. They are the smartest Sasquatches on this world, so they can give a good command. If they are fast enough partecipate even in combat.Well Gik and Teck are very smart, Kesti so-so. He is not a "CHARGE!!" captain like Cossuzeus though, so he has some brains. Maybe they are still on the potential prisoner platter. So thats a silverlining here, i don't mind fighting has many aliens has this fort holds if they show their faces to us again.
Afterwards well, we will be out of the fort. So Vali can start his magic, and we can go to the ex black site multi project lab LZ. Though it will not end there. While we have started EVAC and bring loot up/our stuff up (like all the TYPHON vehicles) operations i recon those are not entirely completed yet. Afterall while we are here, Kurt and Jai are occupied in a dig site freeing human slaves, and Nesta is occupied in making sure those civilian spaceships can move and be ready. So we aren't greenlighted for fully leave just yet.Depending on how things go here we might have some pursuers, and thus a last battle/combat session at the LZ.404 those covenant air vehicles we took in the Covenant Garage and used in Jamshid are being brought home ? Should be or correct me if i am wrong. We have X number of civilian spaceships and Reaper Spirit/Dog House (which unload in the Skidbladnir) for bring things home in terms of capacity sobwe have space even with the combined civilians+guerilla forces load.
>>6479007Well, Gray team and Nesta flew Banshees to Jamshid
>>6479101Hmm, oh well. Yeah, for the infiltration of the air nest. It is what it is; we still found a lot of stuff and might get away with more.
>>6478977>"Quick Draw" Your shotgun and kneecap the closest Sasquatch and make them your meat shield (DC 16. +2 Jotun, +1 Shotgunner, +2 SQ: Spartan-II)
>>6478977>Lunge, draw the energy sword and try to take the head off the Sasquatch calling in more troops (DC 17. +3 Bladebreaker (1/2 brawler), +1 Giant, +1 Plasma Wiz)I don't want to deal with wrestling a Brute ontop of the other two.
Going to aim to update later in the day today. If something comes up, I'll try to warn you guys ahead of time. Just sleepy atm
>>6479338Np have a good nap
Worried I may be coming down with food poisoning
>>6479450you should go up with poisoning the food in response.
>>6479450You know the drill. Get it out of you as fast as you can and get plenty of water in you after.
>>6478977>>Lunge, draw the energy sword and try to take the head off the Sasquatch calling in more troops (DC 17. +3 Bladebreaker (1/2 brawler), +1 Giant, +1 Plasma Wiz)
bruh is the qm curse real or what
>>6479450...ok. Stay safe, please. It's not the first time you told us...
[ Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache, back online] feeling better4 Votes to make a meat shield3 Votes to use the energy sword Very close vote, but shotgunning out a Brute's leg and using them as cover wins it by 1 [ Decision made ] [ Please roll 1d20+5. DC 16. Bo3] >>6479451Gikirbus ass response>>6479499>>6479504It was on me this time, cause I took a chance with some chicken I had in the fridge.
Rolled 20 + 5 (1d20 + 5)>>6479574
>>6479581Nice recovery.
>>6479581 [ Warning! Warning! General warning in place! Preferred candidate has achieved a critical success! ] Critical success, and 9 over target, one away from getting an additional success [ Proceeding...]
Rolled 2 + 5 (1d20 + 5)>>6479581oh nicerolling to see how I'd have done
One of the Sasquatches takes the initiative. Big frame, exaggerated musculature. Must give them confidence. Clearly the leader of the trio, fed better. Shame the extra nutrients didn't go to their brains, cause they forgot one of the maxims of the battlefield in approaching you with their firearm lowered. Confirm the kill before getting close to an injured combatant.The moment they step over the invisible line you drew with your mind's eye, your twitching hand snaps to action. One blinding movement, you reach behind your back, "Quick Drawing" your M45E Shotgun, swinging it up by its stock and firing mid arc. You see the white of the alien's eyes as Quad Ought Shot pulverizes their knee cap as they reach out to grab your shoulder. And before they can react or even scream, you finish the flip, slamming the shotgun directly into their jaw, stunning them if the loss of one of their legs wasn't enough. Lunging forward, you sweep their brutalized leg and drag them down to your level, snaking an arm around their throat and clinching it. A wrestling move you'd practiced and perfected against your fellow Spartans. Choking them, you move behind them and hold them up. His two friends move, slow motion as Spartan Time kicks in. One hesitates to open fire, the other grin's sadistically as he aims center of mass on his on ally and pulls the trigger. You mark them as the bigger threat and swing the barrel of your shotgun around. Ducking down and raising your shoulder to protect yourself from any shrapnel or stray fire as the Covenant brute opens fire on your and your thrashing meat shield, roaring and charging. The second joins, a step behind, raising their crude gun and forgetting that their buddy is between it and their target. Cold Blooded.You feel the impact through your volunteer cover, and pull the trigger as the one that was a little too quick to give up their pal for dead tries to duck and dodge to the left. The 8 Gauge spat out by your gun shreds his size and feeling the struggles of your shield already weakening you kick them forward, propelling them at their stumbling friend who stabbed them in the back. The third leaps and rolls to avoid getting caught in the pile up. You rack the shotgun one handed and without taking your eyes off of the last active threat, fire it directly against the temple of the Sasquatch caught under your discarded meat shield.They roll and lunge to their feet, eyes hard focused as they pull their trigger, aiming center mass. Good practice, unfortunately for them, they forgot to count their magazine. The expression on their faces tells you they only realized they needed to reload when they heard the click.You twist your shoulders and charge, they toss their empty gun and raise their arms up, in a bear like stance as they counter charge, and manage to grab hold of the barrel of your shotgun and twist it away before you can pull the trigger. Cont
>>6479593They lose a chunk of their helmet and the ear under it for their troubleBut you weren't aiming to blow their head off. One of their paws were occupied. And you were right where you wanted to be, within arms reach of them. They slump, as a bright blue glow pours out of their back, as the you activate the energy sword and deploy it right against their gut. Freeing it with a kick, you deactivate it and cycle your shotgun, putting a new shell in its chamber as you roll your shoulders and shake off the last of the "Static" that had been stuck in your armor.This bought you some breathing room, but you couldn't unkick the hornet's nest, and the alarms were still blaring. More Covies would be here soon, out for blood. [ Current Successes in Combat: 3. +1 Critical Success, +1 5 Over Target, +1 Success ] >Contact Reaper Spirit and change your plans from rendezvousing with your team in the garage, and hold position. (DC 22. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA Attachments, +1 Shotgunner)>Clear a path through the fort, with what some might call the excessive deployment of explosive ordinance (DC 20. +5 Grenadier)>Abandon the chair, grab the loot on it and clear as much ground as you can before you have to engage>Put a Navmarker on the grav chair's position, and engage the enemy on your own terms (DC 20. +3 Infiltrator, +3 Bladebreaker) >Write in option
>>6479594>Put a Navmarker on the grav chair's position, and engage the enemy on your own terms (DC 20. +3 Infiltrator, +3 Bladebreaker)We've already invested this much into taking this thing. Sunk cost fallacy but it's still too good a haul to abandon.
>>6479594>Put a Navmarker on the grav chair's position, and engage the enemy on your own terms (DC 20. +3 Infiltrator, +3 Bladebreaker)
>>6479574Yeah, never take a chance with chicken.
>>6479594>Put a Navmarker on the grav chair's position, and engage the enemy on your own terms (DC 20. +3 Infiltrator, +3 Bladebreaker)We want that chair and we recovered amazingly with the 20 willing to try again.
>>6479594>Put a Navmarker on the grav chair's position, and engage the enemy on your own terms (DC 20. +3 Infiltrator, +3 Bladebreaker)Get away from our loot you FUCKING XENOS
>>6479574Doesn't sound reassuring. Dont gamble with your stomach.>>6479594>>Put a Navmarker on the grav chair's position, and engage the enemy on your own terms (DC 20. +3 Infiltrator, +3 Bladebreaker)Sure lets try it>Write in option>Quickly cut off the head of the corpse of a brute soldier, and grab it by its fur. You have an idea [Boogeyman/Grenadier]. Time for the undead demons to rise from the shadows.
>>6479594>>Put a Navmarker on the grav chair's position, and engage the enemy on your own terms (DC 20. +3 Infiltrator, +3 Bladebreaker)
>>6479594>>Put a Navmarker on the grav chair's position, and engage the enemy on your own terms (DC 20. +3 Infiltrator, +3 Bladebreaker)god damn dirty apes cant let us get some fat loot and leave got to make it hard
>>6479594>Put a Navmarker on the grav chair's position, and engage the enemy on your own terms (DC 20. +3 Infiltrator, +3 Bladebreaker) muh chair.
[ Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache, Back online ] 9 Votes to Fight the Enemy on your termsL + 1 vote to do Boogeyman thingsSven-033 is going to bring the fight the Covenant [ Decision made ] [ Please roll 1d20+6. DC 20. Bo3 ] >>6479631I love the expression on this Blood Raven.
Rolled 17 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>6479980
Rolled 4 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>6479980
Rolled 7 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>6479980
>>6479982>>6479983>>6479984It's a success and we didn't crit fail. Good enough.
>>6479982 [ Success ! ] [/blue ] Three over target [ Proceeding... ]
And they'd get it, but you'd decide the terms. Placing a NAVmarker on the chair, you sweep your eyes over and scan your surroundings and go through a few mental exercises to figure out how use it to your advantage, one rapid fire idea after another as the bases' alarm gets louder and louder. Out in the open, exposed, there's no immediately apparent solution. No readily available cover. No blindspots to take advantage of to launch an ambush from. No nooks, crannies or alleys. But that's thinking three dimensional. Any ship captain who earned the right and rank to command one a UNSC warship, knows that only thinking in flat planes gets people killed. So, you consider the Z axis as well as X & Y. And that expands your options.Its a bad habit that some soldiers get, after they've had one or two fire fights or that never gets beaten out of them in training. Something that elite units and special forces are aware of, and take advantage of. Something you learned to exploit to Hel and back in Basic. And that is that when the threat is right in front of someone, even a trained soldier, they lack the instinct to look up. And you're nothing if not an excellent climber.You run to the wall and scale it, there's a blindspot created by one of the power cables running up from the Plasma Batteries to the top of the tower. Not a comfortable position, with the heat generated by it and the bass generated by it, but it keeps you hidden. You pull yourself up with the climbing hooks, and keep one hand on the depowered grip of the energy sword you looted, and wait. Activity on the motion tracker. A group of four Unggoy scuttle out, waving their plasma pistols and firing a few shots as they jabber and bark, and then stop, confused. One jumps, shrieking as they step on the three terminated Sasquatches, firing off a round. One of the other smacks them on the back of their head, as they circle around the chair, looking around, scanning their surroundings, clearly on edge and expecting some scary monster to leap out and gobble them up.They look everywhere but up. More activity. Red dots. Jiralhanae...minors you think you remember being the correct designation of the Covie's internal rank. Barely armored. Three more of them. Your eyes narrow, fingers stroking the metallic grip on your hip. But you keep waiting, as one of them kicks one of the four Unggoy away and boldly approaches the artifacts you rightfully stole. You wait as they begin rooting around the satchel, grunting in confusion as they lift up a bag of loot instead of a dead or incapacitated Worm Priest.You wait.Bingo. Big fish arrived. Blue armor, accompanied by one more Minor Sasquatch, barking orders, reminds you of an officer fresh out of the academy. You push away from the wall. And take flight.He doesn't look up, as you land ontop of him, Energy Sword activated and thrust through their back. If that didn't kill him, your full weight crushing down on him from his shoulders would.Cont
>>6479990The minor at his side, moves, lunging at you out of reflex. You swing the still thrumming energy sword through the sand and blind them with a splash of molten glass as you steal a maneuver from the Splitjaw Swordmaster's repertoire and pirouette, turning around them, shoulder to shoulder as they stumble, firing a shot off blindly as they paw and scratch at their now useless eyes. You stand to your full, imposing height as the three other Brutes turn around, raising their own guns as the Hunchbacks they sent in first to die tremble, starring at you like you were the grim fucking reaper themself. Might as well be"Boo" You said, and the four smaller aliens scatter, running and screaming in four different directions as you lift the blue silver sword, shimmering with barely contained heat to your chest in a fencing guard. [ Current Successes in Combat: 4.] [ Sven-033 is Minorly Injured, rest of Violet Team: Uninjured ] [ Enemies to Beat, currently: 3 Jiralhanae Minors. Morale decreasing ] >Lunge forward, firmly grasping the initiative and moving to terminate the threat (DC 18. +3 Bladebreaker, +1 Enemy Morale is low]>With their eyes on the sword, stick the one in the center with a Plasma Grenade (DC 16. +5 Grenadier, +1 Plasma Wiz)>[Maverick] "Fall back", leading them to chase after you and grab one of those plasma batteries and launch it at them (DC 17. +1 Giant, +2 Jotun, +2 No one expects a plasma coil to the face,)>[Boogeyman] Ignore them and use the blinded Sasquatch as a prop for a bit of one the ground psych warfare (DC 22. +6 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments) >write in option
>>6479992>With their eyes on the sword, stick the one in the center with a Plasma Grenade (DC 16. +5 Grenadier, +1 Plasma Wiz)Let's keep it simple.
>>6479992>With their eyes on the sword, stick the one in the center with a Plasma Grenade (DC 16. +5 Grenadier, +1 Plasma Wiz)
>>6479992>[Boogeyman] Ignore them and use the blinded Sasquatch as a prop for a bit of one the ground psych warfare (DC 22. +6 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments) Ravage enemy morale early on.
>>6479992>>[Boogeyman] Ignore them and use the blinded Sasquatch as a prop for a bit of one the ground psych warfare (DC 22. +6 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments)Fear
>>6479992>[Maverick] "Fall back", leading them to chase after you and grab one of those plasma batteries and launch it at them (DC 17. +1 Giant, +2 Jotun, +2 No one expects a plasma coil to the face,)introduce them to human dodgeball
>>6479992>>With their eyes on the sword, stick the one in the center with a Plasma Grenade (DC 16. +5 Grenadier, +1 Plasma Wiz)
>>6479992>[Boogeyman] Ignore them and use the blinded Sasquatch as a prop for a bit of one the ground psych warfare (DC 22. +6 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments)Psyche them up to give us an opening to steal the chair.
>>6479992>[Boogeyman] Ignore them and use the blinded Sasquatch as a prop for a bit of one the ground psych warfare (DC 22. +6 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments) "Look horrors of war!"
>>6479992>>[Boogeyman] Ignore them and use the blinded Sasquatch as a prop for a bit of one the ground psych warfare (DC 22. +6 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments)
Might be late with today's update.
>>6480337np
Sorry. Update is going to be delayed a bit longer, been in bed all day with a nasty flu that came out of nowhere. Feeling better now, but I don't know how long that'll last. If it does the wait won't be that long, but I've got a headache from how much I've been coughing and sneezing, atm.
>>6480592All good, take care of yourself, 404.
qm curse continuing into halloween, spooky
>>6480592>>6480611bring new meaning to ONI spook thats for sure
>>6480592No problem just rest in this spooky spoppy day.
>>6479992>>With their eyes on the sword, stick the one in the center with a Plasma Grenade (DC 16. +5 Grenadier, +1 Plasma Wiz
>>6479992>[Boogeyman] Ignore them and use the blinded Sasquatch as a prop for a bit of one the ground psych warfare (DC 22. +6 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments)
[ Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache, back online ] I'm alive4 Votes to throw a Plasma6 Votes for [Boogeyman]1 Vote for [ Maverick ] Time to show the apes the meaning of fear [ Decision made ] [ Please roll 1d20+7. DC 22. Bo3 ]
Rolled 6 + 7 (1d20 + 7)>>6480932let's go!
Rolled 9 + 7 (1d20 + 7)>>6480932
Rolled 5 + 7 (1d20 + 7)>>6480932
Rolled 12 + 7 (1d20 + 7)>>6480932
>>6480934Currently missing the target number by six.Would you like to activate Jotun's Rage?
>>6480937Might as well.
>>6480937it'll at least make it a minor failure even if it's a bad pair of rolls, so yeah
Rolled 3, 2 = 5 (2d4)>>6480939>>6480938Gotcha Lieutenant Commander
>>6480940>>6480934 [ Failure ] but only by 1 and you're getting a +4 Bonus into the next action [ proceeding.... ]
And through the blue light casting off the blade of the energy sword, you could see that the apes were losing their nerve. They had more guts than the fodder they sent in first, but seeing your CO get ganked and one of your teammates get crippled would shake most soldiers. Even religious fanatics. They just needed an ounce more of encouragement to snap and break completely, and you only had so much ammunition and stamina to fight. To say you were outnumbered would be in competition for the understatement of the century. You needed to open an escape route, break from the fighting and break for the garage.Dissuading the enemy from taking pursuit and chasing, would make rendezvousing with the rest of the team much easier. They didn't look confident they could win, as far as you could read alien body language and expressions; you were better at reading Sasquatch responses, considering the "practice" you'd gotten in earlier. So, keeping up your guard, you turned towards the hostile thrashing on the ground, pulling at tufts of fur and skin fused to brittle glass, blood seeping from between their clawed digits as they tried to save their already lost eyes. The two active threats noticed the switch in your attentions and tried to preemptively stop you, arms swinging as you lunged, ducking low and flashing the energy sword down in a flourish, throwing up more melted sand as you pounced on the blinded alien.Who got back up, tossing sand as they rose. You reflexively blocked, molten sand beading and dripping down the energy sword as they clumsily got to their feet and threw themselves in your direction. You dodged, and felt a hard impact on your right shoulder. The metal deformed as a rail road spike shaped round deflected off the exaggerated shoulder pad and dinged off your helmet. Ducking down, another spike shot just over your head as you felt a bruise start to form right on the joint of your shoulder. Rolling, you ducked and dodged a quick shot of plasma, as one of the two had picked up one of the pistols the fleeing hunchbacks had thrown to the ground.And you got your head in the game, the hit the shoulder making a good "trigger" to pull up the dregs of adrenaline that had started to settle after your leap of faith and electrocution. Hammering heart calms, the blood in your veins chills, and you go deadly calm, analyzing the situation you're in as your consciously and forcefully extend "Spartan Time".Blinded Bogie was much less of a nonthreat than you assumed, rookie mistake on your part. Two uninjured hostiles were quick on their feet and quick thinkers, despite their low rank and inability to look up. They were keeping their distance, they understood the danger posed by the Energy Sword flashing in your hand, the blind one wasn't just lashing out, they were trying to tangle you up and create an opening for their surviving squad mates, even at the cost of their own life. Cont
>>6480944Or you were misreading things and they just got lucky in their blind, uncoordinated, berserk fury. Still. Couldn't be too cautious, the bump on your shoulder proved that. Couldn't get cocky. Shouldn't be so confident. Can't let them psyche you out. Playing Boogeyman was too risky, so you needed to try a different approach. Another Play. Their nerves were tougher than you thought, but still fraying. Had to come up with a plan before the angry, blind gorilla flailing their jackhammer strong arms around got close enough to distract you from the active & armed threats close by...[ Current Successes in Combat: 4.][ Sven-033 is Lightly Injured, rest of Violet Team: Uninjured ][ Enemies to Beat, currently: 3 Jiralhanae Minors. Morale Steady][ Enemies to Beat, currently: 3 Jiralhanae Minors. Morale decreasing ]>[Brawler 6] Snap the neck of the blinded Brute and use them as a meat shield to cover your retreat to a more advantageous position (DC 20. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA Attachments, +1 Meat shield, +4 Jotun's Rage)>[Maverick] Throw the energy sword, and while they distracted, equip your shotgun and start blasting (DC 22. +3 Bladebreaker, +1 Shotgunner, +4 Jotun's Rage, +1 Who would throw their sword? (Maverick) )>[Brawler: Open Hand + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] With their attention on Sword in your hand, sneak a plasma grenade into your other hand, activate it when you get close and using the trick you know, "Roll" it of onto them (DC 25. +6 Brawler, +5 Grenadier: Plasma Wiz. +1 Plasma Wiz, +4 Jotun's Rage)>You have two hands, lunge at the close sasquatch and when they dodge, hit them with a Narq Dart (DC 16. +2 Jotun, +4 Jotun's Rage) >Write in option
>>6480945Ignore the second enemy count, missed it when I was editing the options
>>6480945>[Brawler: Open Hand + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] With their attention on Sword in your hand, sneak a plasma grenade into your other hand, activate it when you get close and using the trick you know, "Roll" it of onto them (DC 25. +6 Brawler, +5 Grenadier: Plasma Wiz. +1 Plasma Wiz, +4 Jotun's Rage)
>>6480945>[Maverick] Throw the energy sword, and while they distracted, equip your shotgun and start blasting (DC 22. +3 Bladebreaker, +1 Shotgunner, +4 Jotun's Rage, +1 Who would throw their sword? (Maverick) )shotgun, my friend...
>>6480945>[Maverick] Throw the energy sword, and while they distracted, equip your shotgun and start blasting (DC 22. +3 Bladebreaker, +1 Shotgunner, +4 Jotun's Rage, +1 Who would throw their sword? (Maverick) )shame boogeyman failed.Lets try grind shotgunner then.
>>6480945>[Brawler 6] Snap the neck of the blinded Brute and use them as a meat shield to cover your retreat to a more advantageous position (DC 20. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA Attachments, +1 Meat shield, +4 Jotun's Rage)This works.
>>6480945>>[Brawler: Open Hand + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] With their attention on Sword in your hand, sneak a plasma grenade into your other hand, activate it when you get close and using the trick you know, "Roll" it of onto them (DC 25. +6 Brawler, +5 Grenadier: Plasma Wiz. +1 Plasma Wiz, +4 Jotun's Rage)We need to end this fast. Kaboom-slice-slice run.
>>6480945>>[Brawler: Open Hand + Grenadier: Plasma Wiz] With their attention on Sword in your hand, sneak a plasma grenade into your other hand, activate it when you get close and using the trick you know, "Roll" it of onto them (DC 25. +6 Brawler, +5 Grenadier: Plasma Wiz. +1 Plasma Wiz, +4 Jotun's Rage)
[ Rebooting Monitor 404TormentedCache, back online ] 4 Votes for [B:OH+G:PW]2 Votes for [Maverick]1 Vote for [Brawler 6]Sven-033 is going to show the Covies a neat party trick with a plasma grenade [ Decision made ] [ Please roll 1d20+16. DC 25. Bo3 ]
Rolled 12 + 16 (1d20 + 16)>>6481336
Rolled 4 + 16 (1d20 + 16)>>6481336KABOOM!
Rolled 12 + 16 (1d20 + 16)>>6481336Here goes my first dice roll in a long time.
>>6481353>>6481337 [ Success! ] Three over target, nice [ Proceeding.... ]
Best option was to remove the active threats, then deal with the blind monkey. Taking action immediately, you took a step forward and launched yourself forward, kicking off the sandy ground like a coiled spring, and purposefully raised up the energy sword as if you were preparing to hit an overhead strike, drawing your targets' attention up and towards your head. You're moving too fast for them to line up a shot immediately, too fast to track and too fast to shoot. But there was no real intent behind the overhead swing. It was just a distraction, a diversion.They were cautious towards the energy sword, rightfully so, you'd shown them you were willing to use it in ways the Svartalfar would never consider and hurt and cripple them in ways they didn't know were possible. Seeing a squadmate lose their eyes to molten glass, left an impression. And if this didn't work out, a follow up thrust would let you regain ground and cover yourself. But your actual attack, what the diversion was for, would come from the hand you had briefly passed towards your waist, palming an energy grenade and hiding it behind the back of your palm as you leapt.Only activating it now that you could see the whites of the aliens eyes, your finger pressed down on the activation switch, and with how tightly you held the grenade, it adhered immediately to the armor lining the inside of your MJOLNIR gauntlet. You could feel the heat radiating through it, getting through the thermal regulating gel, and start to blister the inside of your palm. You had to move quick. The Sasquatches dodge to the side, leaping away, turning to open fire as soon as you cleared their previous position. This was the only chance you'd get. Brushing your palm on the leg of the one to your left, you ducked, pulled your legs in and rolled, deactivating the energy sword mid-leap to avoid cutting yourself as you hit the ground, avoiding the inital burst of fire. Which stopped immediately, as the tagged Ape let out a shocked bellow and tried to rip off the plasma grenade fused to the fur and flesh of his leg before it detonated. They hadn't leapt apart far enough, angling to catch you in a pincer and cut you down in a hail of fire. Which meant, with the perfectly timed explosion, both of the sasquatches were caught in its radius. Blue violet flames shot out, electricity coursing through the cloud of burning death as you hopped to your feet, and shouldered your shotgun. Aiming into the fireball, you watched, waiting for confirmation that the target on the edge of the plasma cloud still presented a threat before wasting any ammunition on them.They'd been thrown to the ground, and the sudden blast of heat had...melted their front like wax. It wasn't a pretty sight, but it was certain that the brute had done worse to innocent victims. They were still breathing.A solid stomp to the trachea solved that problem quicker than pulling the trigger would. Cont
>>6481362The ground had been burned and partially melted to glass, which crunched and cracked under your feet as you silently approached the blind Sasquatch. They might've had good enough hearing to locate and lunge at you, but you knew the exact range the M45E needed to be immediately lethal and aimed at their center of mass. To make sure they stayed down, you double tapped, pulling the trigger and pumping and firing again before the full force of the first shot had lifted them off the ground. A little more breathing room, but not much.Your position was going to be swarming with Covies, soon. More numbers than you could deal with on your own. The only reason it hadn't been already, is because it took time to move down the tower and the rest of the garrison was spread out across the fort. They weren't going to file in slowly, like the first and second responders had done. And you'd just used your one plasma grenade. Could search the ground and corpses, but that would expend the little time you had to figure out how to deal with this snag, get out of this mess and regroup with the rest of Violet. Taking out this pack of covenant just put you back into square one. You were cut off from your team, and transporting a priceless piece of enemy tech.There was a nav marker on it now, but if it was recaptured, there was no getting it back. But you'd created enough distance between the chair and the covenant garrison with the ambush, even if the hadn't gone off without a hitch. That opened up a few possibilities, created opportunities.The rest of your team couldn't have reached the garage yet, but the noise you was giving them a clear shot to it, with the equally valuable prisoner. Decisions, Decisions. [ Current Successes in Combat: 5.][ Sven-033 is Minorly Injured, rest of Violet Team: Uninjured ]>Widen the opening for your team, and pull the chair back to the edge of the fort in the opposite direction (Path Difficulty: LEGENDARY. First DC 18. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments, +3 Jotun's Rage, -5 HEAVILY outnumbered)>[Diplomat 3] The garrison believes you're the one kidnapping their priest, use that belief to force them to halt their attack and negotiate your way out the front door [Bonuses due to suitably leveled APs. Grenadier: Plasma Wiz: Leave an explosive surprise behind + Scrounger: Sneak some of the artifacts and tech away] >"Violet Team, change of plans. Won't be able to meet back up. Proceed to planned escape route...Reaper Spirit, ready to fly with death?" *Hold Position until Chen Tian can reach the fort* [Path Difficulty: LEGENDARY. First DC 18. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments, +3 Jotun's Rage, -5 HEAVILY outnumbered>[Infiltrator 3] Abandon the minister's chair and climb back up the tower with what you can carry and follow after your team (Path Difficulty: HEROIC. First DC 14. +3 Infiltrator, +1 Giant, +3 Jotun's Rage_>Write in option
>>6481363>Widen the opening for your team, and pull the chair back to the edge of the fort in the opposite direction (Path Difficulty: LEGENDARY. First DC 18. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments, +3 Jotun's Rage, -5 HEAVILY outnumbered)
>>6481363>Widen the opening for your team, and pull the chair back to the edge of the fort in the opposite direction (Path Difficulty: LEGENDARY. First DC 18. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments, +3 Jotun's Rage, -5 HEAVILY outnumbered)well fuck it we ball and besides we can always run to the ocean if we do need to escape so everyone please keep in mind that as much as we want to keep the chair, we must be willing to leave it behind
>>6481363>"Violet Team, change of plans. Won't be able to meet back up. Proceed to planned escape route...Reaper Spirit, ready to fly with death?" *Hold Position until Chen Tian can reach the fort* [Path Difficulty: LEGENDARY. First DC 18. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments, +3 Jotun's Rage, -5 HEAVILY outnumbered
>>6481363>>"Violet Team, change of plans. Won't be able to meet back up. Proceed to planned escape route...Reaper Spirit, ready to fly with death?" *Hold Position until Chen Tian can reach the fort* [Path Difficulty: LEGENDARY. First DC 18. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments, +3 Jotun's Rage, -5 HEAVILY outnumbered
>>6481363>Widen the opening for your team, and pull the chair back to the edge of the fort in the opposite direction (Path Difficulty: LEGENDARY. First DC 18. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments, +3 Jotun's Rage, -5 HEAVILY outnumbered)Other Legendary path is complicated by AA, we need to make distance and if that means the others get a clean get away with the Prophet, all the better.
>>6481363I don't like any of these.>>Write in option>Vali was told to wait till we got clear.... Well, we mostly are. Close enough for government work. Danger close, maybe. We'll be fine. It'll be loud, but Vali is a smart critter and knows not to blow up the spot we're standing on. Almost certainly. Probably wouldn't hurt to remind him though... "Vali? Any time now... And miss all the friendlies, ok? Please?"
>>6481363switch my vote>>6481404to>"Violet Team, change of plans. Won't be able to meet back up. Proceed to planned escape route...Reaper Spirit, ready to fly with death?" *Hold Position until Chen Tian can reach the fort* [Path Difficulty: LEGENDARY. First DC 18. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments, +3 Jotun's Rage, -5 HEAVILY outnumberedsorry for the extra work
>>6481363>Widen the opening for your team, and pull the chair back to the edge of the fort in the opposite direction (Path Difficulty: LEGENDARY. First DC 18. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments, +3 Jotun's Rage, -5 HEAVILY outnumbered)Not that I don't have faith in Chen to pull it off or his willingness to do it given his personality, I feel like the chair doesn't justify the risk.Only feel like I could justify it if capturing/killing the prophet depended on it or a Spartan's life was in danger (or we disabled the AA earlier). Stepping into mission creep territory.
>>6481615I mean the decoy plan puts Sven in danger too. Let's not get arrogant and think Sven can handle an army on his own instead of just bailing out with a plane.At the very least covies shouldn't know about the rest of our team so going for chen rescue gives the idea Sven did this all on his own.>>6481363>"Violet Team, change of plans. Won't be able to meet back up. Proceed to planned escape route...Reaper Spirit, ready to fly with death?" *Hold Position until Chen Tian can reach the fort* [Path Difficulty: LEGENDARY. First DC 18. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments, +3 Jotun's Rage, -5 HEAVILY outnumbered
>>6481363>>[Diplomat 3] The garrison believes you're the one kidnapping their priest, use that belief to force them to halt their attack and negotiate your way out the front door [Bonuses due to suitably leveled APs. Grenadier: Plasma Wiz: Leave an explosive surprise behind + Scrounger: Sneak some of the artifacts and tech away]
>>6481615>Only feel like I could justify it if capturing/killing the prophet depended on it or a Spartan's life was in danger (or we disabled the AA earlier).do remember Vali is supposed to come back and take control of the AA so my guess is by the time Chen gets here the AA will be in vali's hands
Might not have time to pump out Path update(s) today, since I have plans. Just an early warning. Since while the vote is close with a two vote difference, both first and second place are for paths.
>>6481363>"Violet Team, change of plans. Won't be able to meet back up. Proceed to planned escape route...Reaper Spirit, ready to fly with death?" *Hold Position until Chen Tian can reach the fort* [Path Difficulty: LEGENDARY. First DC 18. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments, +3 Jotun's Rage, -5 HEAVILY outnumbered.Normally don't vote unless I think yall are doing something dumb or for upgrade of abilities. Since, I Normally agree with 99% of you goobers votes. But as that one bro stated vali supposed to take the AA and help us out once everyone is clear.
[ Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache, back online ] Sorry about the wait4 Votes to lure the Covies away from your team6 Votes to hold position and call in a pickup1 vote for anV4yufr's write in 1 vote for [ Diplomat ] The Covenant will tell tales of the Spartan at Alpha Corvi IIhttps://youtu.be/sMPGEpvU_5o [ Decision made ] [ Please roll 1d20+4. DC 18. Bo3 ]
Rolled 19 + 4 (1d20 + 4)>>6482040
Rolled 5 + 4 (1d20 + 4)>>6482040
>>6482044>>6482054 [ Success! ] And exactly 5 over target, which means Sven will won't take any damage at this stage. Nice [ Proceeding.... ]
"Violet Team, Change of plans" You say, watching electric blue arcs dancing across the surface of the Covenant Tower, crawling briefly along bundles of cables, before jumping or appearing on the other machines across the compound, hinting at the presence of a fragment of Vali's code, spreading like a digital wild fire "Won't be able to meet back up. Proceed to planned escape route"You pause and realize that phrasing it like that makes it sound like you're about to get your ticket punched and get KIA. But Spartans are professional, so there won't be any panic even if they misunderstand what you're planning, in the moment. They'll follow their orders, even if it sounds like they're leaving you behind. Technically they are, but it doesn't matter because clearing up any possible miscommunication is as easy as saying"Reaper Spirit, ready to fly with death?" as you patch in Chief Warrant Officer Chen Tian, and hear a sigh of relief from... all three members of your team, that brings a smile to your face"Give me the coordinates sir, and I'll take the reaper on a walk" Chen Tian replies calmly as you nod, and begin transporting the Minister's chair to a natural choke point close to the tower within sprinting distance of a part of the old base it was built over that was flattened enough to serve as a landing pad"See you on the other side, you crazy SOB" Mike says, before the COMMs go quiet as you transmit the cords back to the pelican and kick the chair into position as your motion tracker lights up red. And shrill, monkey shriek like war cry echoes through the canyon as at least a dozen Hunchbacks come charging forward, a slate grey tide. You duck behind a wall as a hail of plasma fire and exploding crystals slam into your position, and count down from three, timing out the time until they'll need to reload or cool their pistols. Running down the list of your weaponry, you settle on the experimental Woden Hal grenade, grabbing one as you step out from behind the steaming and pin cushioned half collapsed wall you'd taken for cover. Three of the twelve Unggoy had the presence of mind to delay fire, but at that distance, the spread of their needlers and heat dissipation of their plasma pistols would reduce the damage enough that with proper movement, they'd either miss entirely or slide off the curves of your outer armor.Underhand tossing the grenade, bounce it off one of the higher sections of the tower, and watch as pink, exploding gems and boiling green balls of plasma whizz around you or skirt off the edges of your arm or crumble.There was sound like a depressurizing air tank, followed by a more familiar bang as a cloud of thick smoke spat out of the grenade, before being whipped and fanned away as a flash of silver cut through the air. And the charging Unggoy. The lucky ones have their tanks ruptured or crushed by the steel wire wrapping around them. Cont
>>6482060The unlucky ones don't, and lose limbs or get whipped across their chests or head. It isn't a clean death, but the ones who don't have the good fortune to die immediately, keep firing, barking and snarling as they're trampled by the second wave of fodder.You'd feel pity for them if they weren't enemy combatants, and little monsters. [ Current Successes in Combat: 7. +1 five over DC, +1 Success ] [ Sven-033 is Minorly Injured, rest of Violet Team: Uninjured ] [Enemies to beat: 16 Unggoy Berserkir, ??? Reinforcements arriving ] [ Please roll 1d20. DC 17. +5 Grenadier, +2 Jotun's Rage, +2 targets closely grouped, -5 HEAVILY outnumbered [ Total Bonus: +4 ]
Rolled 15 + 4 (1d20 + 4)>>6482061
Rolled 1 + 4 (1d20 + 4)>>6482061damn those woden hal grenades are warcrimes in a ball those things could have done damage to Spartans
>>6482068GOD FUCKING DAMN IT FIRST TIME IN IN AWHILE AND THIS SHIT
>>6482068Surely we are due for a nat 20 right?
Rolled 16 + 4 (1d20 + 4)>>6482061I BELIEVE IN THE HEART OF THE DICE!
>>6482071FUCK
3 nat 1s without a nat 20 so far, dice is not loving us in this fort
>>6482073well seeing as how this mission is almost over i say pop unbreakable so we can just get the fuck out of here
>>6482074We already popped it for a nat 1 fighting the bug queen
>>6482075we had a break in between so we can pop it again
[ Error Code: RED! A critical failure is predicted! All members of Faculty, take cover! ] Yeeesh. Crit fail and 2 degrees of failure, going 12 under DC. going to be interesting [ Proceeding... ]
>>6482078can we pop unbreakable?
>>6482079Unbreakable: Sven trains his body and mind to become truly unbreakable. Effects of Sven-033. Increased physical & mental resilience and endurance, improved stamina, durability and mental health . Sven can shrug off/ ignore more grievous injuries/ wounds, and further reduces penalties from wounded and morale loss. Sven takes less penalties overall from being wounded/ mental disturbances. Once per Mission Sven can completely negate incoming damage to himself.
Having kept the M319 loaded and ready to fire, you sling it, grabbing it from where you'd secured it to your armor via mag strip and lift it up to fire a grenade directly into the center of the mob. Before a flash of heat washes over your hand, discipline and trained instincts keep you from reflexively dropping the weapon as green light washes over your vision, before your visor reacts and adapts, dimming as the HUD flashes with warnings. A lucky shot from a plasma pistol has just hit down the barrel of the grenade launcher. In your hand. Its ammo shouldn't detonate from heat, but it hasn't been tested against plasma hot temperatures. The M319 is fried. The barrel is melted down and there is no telling if the grenade is about to go off in your hand. You throw it, aiming at the hostile who'd turned it to Slag, as the pack of Unggoy snarl and shriek rabidly. It barely phases them, and another plasma round hits you in the shoulder, searing pain shooting down the same arm with fingers numbed from the proximity burn of holding a M319 that had just been turned into a handful of molten metal. You clench the hand into a fist and stare down the dozen or so Covie Grunts rushing your position like starved dogs after a steak, and the crippled Unggoy on between their lines that had shot the gun out from under your hand. Only now that the smoke cleared, do you notice they're wearing a different pattern of armor and methane tank than the others.An elite. Sharpshooter training. They hit a shot twice from the ground that would've given James trouble. You'd be impressed if they weren't going to die with the rest of them. Behind the mob of grunts, you saw what you least wanted to see. More stinking apes. [ Sven-033 AP: Bulwark: Unbreakable and MJOLNIR Armor reduced incoming damage down to Moderately Injured ] [ M319 Grenade Launcher, Destroyed ] [ Current Successes in Combat: 7. +1 five over DC, +1 Success ] [ Sven-033 is Moderately Injured, rest of Violet Team: Uninjured ] [Enemies to beat: 16 Unggoy Berserkir, 4 Jiralhanae minors ] [ Please roll 1d20. DC 18. +1 Jotun's rage, +1 giant, +6 Brawler: Open hand, -2 HEAVILY Outnumbered (Reduced due to AP Brawler) [Total Modifier: +6 ] [ Please roll 1d20+6. DC 18. Bo3 ] >>6482079Technically its still the same mission
Rolled 4 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>6482086
Rolled 1 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>6482086Let the dice decide our fate.
Rolled 17 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>6482086
>>6482089AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
>>6482091relax this is brawling so we still have an instakill to pop
the dice are laughing at us...
Think we could roll again and hope for a 20?
>>6482089The dice have decided to tell us that kicking a prophet is a bad idea since it makes the rest of them really, REALLY mad. Who knew?
Rolled 10 (1d20)>>6482089OH SHIT OH FUCK
>>6482089HAHAHAHA OH WE ARE SO FUCKED. ROLLERS OF 1'S KYS PLS.
>>6482089lol i love when anons do this daring of fate to the dice and promptly get the worst result possible. Anyway, calm down. The Mjolnir Aquatic will take more battle damage; we get further wounded. Not dead, though. If we think we are too wounded, we can leave the chair and go away with the infiltrator and some loot from the sack. Chen can just be updated through comms at an outside evac point.
>>6482089>>6482068Jesus guess we're out of the fight for a bit if we survive this.
Sorry, laid down and took a nap I didn't mean to take and>>6482089 [ Error Code: RED! A critical failure is predicted! All members of Faculty, take cover! ] Ooof, talk about bad luck. 11 under DC. crit fail and 2 degrees of failure, for a second time in a row. Ouch [ Proceeding... ]
Rolled 11 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>6482086
>>6482163Brawler auto success not enough?
>>6482167No one asked to use the insta kill skill
>>6482170Can we used it then?
>>6482172We are not even in melee, and there are actually more dangerous enemies incoming. Not wasting on this.
You drew a mental line through the mob, to the elite gas huffer and further to the apes. The chokepoint was still holding. But it was going to be blocked and clogged with bodies and turn to a trap. But, while an Unggoy could overpower an ordinary UNSC soldier, you were a Spartan and anything but ordinary when it came to physicals. You could brute force your way and move through their number like a Griffball linebacker, thin their numbers and remove the problems. Ducking, you turn your shoulder and take a step back, before springing forward. Grey, carapace spotted limbs slap and claw against you as you slam into the first row of the howling, gas masked berserkers. Its clear they are under the influence of something, probably one of the "Infusions" they took recreationally or a special combat stim cocktail of noble gasses. It remove their rationality, and their fear. But it didn't make them stronger, just removed their lucidity and heightened their rage response, while subduing their usually dominant fear response. And you knew how to deal with pill poppers like this, having plenty of experience putting down Einherjar.However, the moment you began to push and bully your way through the crowd, the hairs on the back of your neck tingle. A wave of heat washed over you as you knocked over and threw back the unggoy, hearing bones snap and gas tanks rupture. A wave of heat that rapidly climbed in temperature and felt like it was cooking the temp regulating gel in your armor. A flash of blue light blazing from the edges of your vision. Your head snapped, first left, then right. And you saw that two of the scrabbling, panting mass of drugged Unggoy had "collars" welded to their necks. With a familiar, bright blue miniature sun blazing on them. Drugged suicide bombers. Were the Covenant taking notes from the Einherjar? This thought whited out as the blast went off, as you ducked down and kicked the ground, going limp and throwing yourself back as the heat spiked and your vision flashed with that familiar, and incredibly painful plasma glow. And you learned what a reheated ration felt like after getting nuked in a field microwave, static crawling across your HUD like electrical spider legs as you flew backwards, carried as much by the plasma explosion as you were your own strength. [ [ Sven-033 AP: Bulwark: Unbreakable and Grenadier: Plasma Wiz and MJOLNIR Armor reduced incoming damage down to Wounded ] [ PC Sven-033 MJOLNIR suit has been damaged ] And those electrical, dancing spiders turned to hair line cracks, as your back hit the ground and a wave of plasma washed overhead and you rolled in the sand, particles of it turning to glass as it quenched the plasma burn that was rapidly burning through your outer armor. The Visor, cracked under the heat and the HUD froze. Cont
>>6482174A punch let the light in, and you brushed away the smoking pieces of glass away from your face, opening up enough the split visors on your helmet to see through and get a mostly unobstructed field of view. And without realizing it, you calculated how much money in damages had just been spent. There was an annoying little alien pest ontop of you, beating on your chest. You snapped their neck with a back hand and threw them off, sitting up straight. And suddenly, the sound you'd mistaken for a concussion stopped, as the apes who'd detonated the suicide bombers stopped laughing as they see you sit up. Looked like they'd seen a ghostBut they snapped to attention as they saw you pull out your shotgun and rise to your full height. And started shooting as you swung and popped the energy sword with your other hand, dual wielding in a way no other Spartan could. Because no other spartan could treat a M45E like a sidearm if they had to. "Helvete" You coughed through the smoke and the heat, chunks of glass fused to your armor. [ Current Successes in Combat: 7 ] [ Sven-033 is Wounded, rest of Violet Team: Uninjured ] [ Enemies to beat: [Enemies to beat: 6 Unggoy Berserkir, 4 Jiralhanae minors, reinforcements on route ] [ Please roll 1d20. DC 17. +1 Jotun's rage, +1 Shotgunner, +3 Bladebreaker +2 Target rich environment, -2 Outnumbered [ Total Modifer: +5 ] [ Please roll 1d20+5. DC 17. Bo3 ]
Rolled 20 + 5 (1d20 + 5)>>6482175I win these
Rolled 3 + 5 (1d20 + 5)>>6482175We're getting fucked over here.
Rolled 17 + 5 (1d20 + 5)>>6482175
>>6482176YES YOU DO
>>6482176WE'RE SAVED!!!!!!
[ Warning! Warning! General warning in place! Preferred candidate has achieved a critical success! ] CRITICAL SUCCESS! and Eight over DC, for an additional degree of success! [ Proceeding...]
>>6482176>"heh, this big green machine ain't shi-">second health bar appears, music adds a chorus
>>6482194>I'm not trapped here with you...>You're trapped here with ME!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHM2OIcG8Ok
And started shooting. Aiming for the heads of the potential, unwitting suicided bombers in front of them. Bomb collars worked, until the head they were attached to ceased to exist in a spray of chunky salsa. One tally, adjust aim, two tally, sweep, three tally. Step forward and move, dodging enemy fire and avoiding getting held down by the three remaining runts shambling towards you, running out of gas. You don't take any chances, and save two rounds by setting off the gas tank on the one in the middle with a single shot. Boom. Still cooling glass crunches under your boot as you toss your shotgun towards the four Sasquatches, running the numbers to calculate its arc and air time before you swish the energy sword and run.And make sure the sharp shooter one the ground won't get another shot off, by pulling your leg back and punting them like a Gravball. With their eyes on the gun you threw "at" them and the screaming grunt sent flying towards them, the Jiralhanae are distracted. Just for a fraction of a second. But in a fight with a Spartan, life and death are measured in fractions. You rush forward, catch the shotgun gun and the moment your hand wraps around its grip, fire. Tensing your arm, you absorb the recoil and watch as the pain in your ass explodes into a flowering ball of combusting methane gas, splattering against the apes. The one with the remote, you take out first. Their head rolls off their shoulders as their fellows cover their eyes and shoot blindly where you were a second ago.Bogie on the left. Now missing a knee. Hostiles to the right. Closest is disarmed and dearmed. And then slammed into the third remaining ape with a rib crushing kick to the chest. Mechanically, your arm swings behind you, locking onto the knee capped Sasquatch. A rail road spike sized needle bounces and deflects off your right shoulder pad, as you remove its firer from the ongoing equation. The ape you kicked is coughing up blood, and the one who you kicked them into isn't fast enough to throw them off. For a moment, you see yourself reflect in their eyes, only one, bloodshot eye visible through the break in your four sectioned, V shaped visor. The reflection vanishes as you impale both with one thrust of the energy sword.Targets neutralized."Sven what the hell are you doing?!" Nesta yells over the COMM as you turn and tilt your head as the latest round of reinforcements arrive, their thundering march slowing and looking strangely hesitant as they see you half crouched over a massacre of their fellow Covies"My job" You reply, coolly as you extract the energy sword and take a step back into the chokepoint "Git! You know what I mean! I'm out here on recovery and you're going ten toes down against a Covenant Garrison""Someone's jealous""Yes, but that's not the point. You get out of there in one piece and I'll break you nose, you absolute pillock"Cont
>>6482203That broke a number of regulations, but you knew it came from a place of love. And you'd probably react the same way if you got a report that she was doing what you were.Fortunately, the fresh reinforcements didn't immediately pursue you past the choke point. Without fodder to send in first, they were arguing who'd go first.You lined up a shot, and forced their discussion to close early. [ Current Successes in Combat: 10!. +1 Critical Success, +1 Five over DC, +1 Success ] [ Sven-033 is Wounded, rest of Violet Team: Uninjured ] [ Enemies to beat: [Enemies to beat: 6 Jiralhanae, reinforcements arriving. Morale dropping ] [ Please roll 1d20. DC 16. +1 Shotgunner, +3 Bladebreaker, -1 Outnumbered] [ Please roll 1d20+3. DC 13. Bo3 ] The Prophets don't want you to know this, but you can weaponize Grunts.
Rolled 2 + 3 (1d20 + 3)>>6482206Dice have mercy PLEASE
Rolled 12 + 3 (1d20 + 3)>>6482206>The Prophets don't want you to know this, but you can weaponize Grunts.Fucking kek man
Rolled 3 + 3 (1d20 + 3)>>6482206Nah
Rolled 18 + 3 (1d20 + 3)>>6482206Cross the finish line Sven!
Rolled 16 + 3 (1d20 + 3)>>6482206Wait, which DC are we using?
>>648221416, the 13 was a typo cause I had a brain fart when reminding myself what needed to be rolled to pass
>>6482210Well they showed mercy it seems.
>>6482215Well shit. We failed by a margin of 1. This was one hell of a rollercoster.
>>6482211 [ Failure ] But only 1 under DC. [ Proceeding... ]
>>6482219Maybe the sword runs out of juice.
The nearest hostile charged your position, stomping over their fallen to reach you. And ducked your shot, turning a lethal "Crowning" headshot into "Just" a grievous shoulder wound, before slamming into you hard. You took a step back and they followed, throwing out their arms and leaping, slamming their full weight against you and sending you reeling back as your reflexive step back made you stance unsteady for a fraction of a second. You blinked rapidly, powder and sand grain sized fragments getting into your eyes as the ape started punching and slamming their fists against you, bellowing fury and spraying spittle on your helmet as you flicked off the energy sword between punches to keep from expending more of its battery than necessary and adjusted your grip, grabbing hold of the Jiralhanae's wrist as you dropped your shotgun and reached for their collar. They battered your hand away, but the vicious brute grin on the face vanished as you started applying pressure on their wrist, turning your hold into a vice. And behind them, another Sasquatch entered the scene with a frustrated look on their bestial face. You knew that look. That was an officer who just got a shit order from higher up. He took in the situation, and with angry look in their eyes, raised up a hand in what was clearly a signal to fire. The other apes looked apprehensive, until he struck one hard enough to bloody their mouth. [ Current Successes in Combat: 10 ] [ Sven-033 is Moderately Wounded, rest of Violet Team: Uninjured ] [ Enemies to beat: [Enemies to beat: 6 Jiralhanae, 1 Officer reinforcements arriving. Morale dropping faster ] [ Please roll 1d20. DC 15. DC reduced due to penalties on opponent from Open Hand. +6 Brawler: Open Hand, +1 Giant ] [ total modifier: +7 ] [ Please roll 1d20+7. DC 15. Bo3 ] Unfortunately, the Sasquatches had no way of knowing that Sven's bare hands might be more dangerous than a live energy sword
Rolled 7 + 7 (1d20 + 7)>>6482228I'm tired Jiralhanea, Die already.
Rolled 1 + 7 (1d20 + 7)>>6482228
Rolled 16 + 7 (1d20 + 7)>>6482228thank you for the living shield
>>6482230Whelp no we're fucking cooked.
>>6482230What the fuck is up with these dice.
>>6482230Would you like to use the Open hand active ability to nullify this crit fail by killing the source immediately?
>>6482234Yeah, we're already moderately wounded and their moral is dropping hella fast
>>6482234Yes.
Rolled 20 (1d20)>>6482230some bad luckhere's some more
>>6482234Yes. If there was ever a time for it, this is it.
>>6482238
>>6482236>>6482237WaitI just remembered, right before I called it. You don't need to use the once per combat proc3/10: Prior effects remain in place. Sven-033 heals lesser injuries during field operations and battle. Sven-033 can endure greater wounds before suffering penalties, shrug off worse injuries than before, can accumulate more wounds before being incapacitated or killed. When taking damage in place of an ally, Sven-033 reduces the severity of the incoming damage. Sven-033 unlocks the ability to wear heavier armor.PC-specific ability interaction with PC Quality: [Special] Giant: Sven-033 can force enemies to take a hit for him.You can just make the Brute eat the critfail for you. Just like the time with the spike grenade
>>6482241Would you prefer to use Bulwark 3 + Giant instead of Open hand 6 once per combat ability?
>>6482242>>6482241You know what, Yeah. I'd rather that. Thank you Kind QM.
>>6482242Yeah, let's go with that instead.
>>6482242Sure
>>6482241Yeh thanks qm.
[ [ Error Code: RED! A critical failure is predicted! All members of Faculty, take cover! ] [ Critical Failure Averted due to quick thinking on the part of the preferred candidate, Sven-033 ] [ Proceeding...]
Belaying the instinct to instantly remove the threat, you jab them in the gut with the attached hooks of the hand they based away and force up the arm holding their wrist, crushing it and snapping their hand. Their free hand moves, instinctively, to try and remove your hand by hitting your harder. It is only a momentary reflex to lash out. The same instinct to remove the threat to one's person. But, you only need a moment. Their eyes bulge as you grab them by the throat, first from the shock of sudden throttling, then from confusion as their legs leave the ground as they're lifted into the air. You hold them there and begin to advance, carrying them in front of yourself as a living wall as they claw and kick. But you've got a vice around their neck, and you aren't letting go.Kinetic impact carry through their back, and then your vision is obscured by clouds of black smoke as they change out their spike throwers for grenade launchers. But you don't stop, even as the load you're carrying gets noticeably lighter with each direct hit landed from his comrades given the order to fire upon the bravest of their number. He died on the first shell to hit his back, but in death, he's still useful as cover. The salvo stops, everything is blanketed in smoke and the smell of blood and whatever chemical or compound the Covies use for their conventional explosives.And as the smoke begins to thin and clear, you toss out the corpse and march out of the smoke cloud, igniting the Energy Sword with a flick of your wrist. [ AP Boogeyman interaction. That is one scary fucking Spartan ] And see that number of problems in front of you has been reduced, as half of their number have collapsed and frozen in place, eyes locked on the loose pile of meat that had been their pal before they threw them into the meatgrinder or have began to run. The Officer, with more armor and with the troops between you and him thinned, realizes he is as mortal as the subordinate whose death warrant he signed.And you can see him consider regaining control of the situation with summary execution. And for all you hate every member of the Covenant, seeing that. As an Officer yourself. Really pisses you off. And he notices your glare, and realize he only has one out of here with his pride intact. He bellows, and raises up a fist. Thinking that ganging up on you will work better.But you're at your best when you're ganged up on. [ Current Successes in Combat: 10 ] [ Sven-033 is Moderately Wounded, rest of Violet Team: Uninjured ] [ Enemies to beat: [Enemies to beat: 3 Jiralhanae, 1 Officer, reinforcements delayed. Morale CRUSHED ] [ Please roll 1d20. DC 19 +3 Bladebreaker, +1 Giant, +5 enemy has lost their morale ] [ Total modifier: +9 [ Please roll 1d20+9. DC 19. Bo3 ] Guess who finally fucking failed their morale roll after the bonuses from the Boogeyman interaction?
Rolled 15 + 9 (1d20 + 9)>>6482267Ape strong together but Bigger monke is even stronger alone.
Rolled 1 + 9 (1d20 + 9)>>6482267
Rolled 2 + 9 (1d20 + 9)>>6482267
>>6482270stop, STOP ROLLING FUCKING 1'S.WHY ARE WE GETTING SO MANY 1'S AND NOT NEARLY THE SAME AMOUNT OF 20'S?
>>6482270seriously WTF is these rolls
>>6482270So many nat 1s in this one combat, the fuck is this?!
>>6482270This isn't fun any more. It's just miserable.
Okay who's the fucko who left the bad luck faucet open? Was it you, Craig? Don't lie.
>Steal a Prophet>Steal his Chair>Steal a gaggle of Engieers>Save abunch of left behind humansThe Dice are making us fucking PAY for the rest of the success here. I'm so glad we didn't touch the rest of the fleet...Also I wonder how our rogue AI son is doing.
>>6482270This is actually starting to piss me off. My head feels hotSo. Before calling it.Remember that the Open hand 6 proc is still on the table.
>>6482270
>>6482270Open hand pls. We can't eat another nat 1.
>>6482280honestly just pop it would like to leave this gods forsaken fort and never comeback here ever again
>>6482280Yeah fuck it.
>>6482280Lmao, Fuck it. Send that bitch.
>>6482280>officer tries to gamble on sven being tired>sven was in fact not tiredI say we use the instagib. Like damn, dice, take a hint.
>>6482280Just do it. I'm so utterly beyond caring at this point.
>>6482280I guess we are procing it then
>>6482279It does seem like our smooth success in the tower is being balanced out by needing to survive nat1 yeh.
I remember this is why wolfpack eventually changed from d20s kek
I'm going to spoil a bit, and say that you guys have unlocked one of the rare, PC specific APs in this one combat. Cookie to whoever guesses the condition!>>6482270 [ Error Code: RED! A critical failure is predicted! All members of Faculty, take cover! ] [ Critical Failure Averted due to quick thinking on the part of the preferred candidate, Sven-033 ] However, you're still going to take some damage, because the circumstances are different from the Bulwark 3+ Giant Crit fail cancel.But, you're going to take a lot less damage than you would have [ Proceeding...] >>6482286>Surely, if I dogpile this monster, it won't man handled me like it did gary>*Immediately runs into the IDSR (Instant Death Sven Radius)
>>6482295Is it finally taking abunch of damage and only mildly coping about it? Or is it having "A run of bad luck" type stuff?
>>6482295>Perk; Objective: Survive>tells bad luck to sit in the cuck chairToo bad our helmet camera is probably borked along with the now absent visor. This would make for the most absurd of clickbait screenshot videos on spacetube.
>>6482295Huh well silver linings I guess.Not sure what it is apart from Survivor though. Or hmm Fortunate son? Bad luck is same as good luck in a way.
>>6482295>Legend spreads among the Covenant of the Man Too Angry To Die, all morale rolls made with disadvantage
>>6482302Gotta max out our strength and speed so we can rip and tear like doom bug>Be a brute>see an unarmed demon sprinting at you at +100kph>ran through an elite>purple mist and chunks everywhere>kick a grunt into a hunter, causing both to explode into gore>watch as picks up two of your brother in each hand and beats your leader to death>run away pissing and shitting and crying yourself in shame
So you counter charge. And get the energy sword shot out of your hand. A brief glint on the covenant made repairs on the walls tells you exactly what had sniped it out of your hand as a bright pink needle sticks out of your palm. There is a wet growl in front of you and a flash in the hand of the brute officer. They've drawn a mean looking, serrated knife, hilted with a chewed bone. Must be an antique. Crushing the explosive crystal in your hand, fury rushing down cool. You step forward and grab the blade with your hand as it swings in an upward arc, aimed at the gap revealing the black inner layer of your armor. You squeeze down, hard enough that it cuts straight through the palm of your armored body suit, the gel squeezing out with your blood as the three other apes bear down on you. Just in time to hear you roar in the face of their CO's face, louder and meaner than he's ever been.And then you punch his throat, tearing it open with the hooks welded to the back of your hand, creating a gruesome wound that you then plunge your hand into, screaming louder and louder as he tries to free his blade and his subordinates back away as you lift up general meatgrinder by his throat. Or more accurately, his spine as you hold on tightly enough to feel vertebrae snap and break. A burst of Needler fire impacts on your chest as the bellows and barks of the Jiralhanae in your hand start to raise in pitch and turn unnaturally shrill as their vocal cords shred under your grip. You barely feel the impact of the shots hitting you as you lift up with your hand, now compressed into a fist.Their head pops off, jaw still wagging as their body drops, knife still stuck in your hand, needles glowing as the burst stops mid shot as you look into the eyes of your foe. And toss away what's left of them, holding back a groan of pain as the adrenaline and rage wears off and lets you know just how badly the cut and needler shots had hurt you. Armor hadn't been in the best shape since your close brush with fiery death by plasma. "Coming in hot, Sir" You hear, crackle through your COMMs, which must've been damaged when the meatshield tried to bash your brains in "Pursued by Covenant Fliers. Landing space clear?"You glance to the AA guns, already hearing the familiar sound of a Pelican's engine over the alarms and screamed orders from an unseen Sasquatch yelling at the lower ranks to stop running for their lives. You watch where the AA guns track, and see they aren't all pointing at the same target"Landspace clear, but get ready to dodge incoming fire, Reaper" You answer, as you wince and pull at the knife stuck in your palm, and resort to snapping it to free it from the gel and material it was stuck to.Backstepping towards the chair, you retrieve your shotgun, just in case and start dragging the prize towards the LZ. Cont
>>6482308And across the way, you see a familiar gas mask wearing freak, trying to regain control and order of his garrison which is in complete chaos after two officers and many more soldiers went down and alley and didn't come back out. His eyes, behind fogged up goggles, meet yours briefly. And he stares, as if he's surprised to see you still standing, let alone walking out with his boss' fancy chair. He reaches for something on his chest.And then the sky explodes as all the AA guns, Innie or Covenant make, start firing. And one of those Covenant fire crashes as a burning heap between you and Girkibus, who lowers his hand Sven is Badly Wounded, -1 to all rolls You hiss through your teeth. Reaper Spirit is coming in, but just because a fireball landed between you and enemy OPCOM, doesn't mean you're out of the woods yet. Still need to make it to the LZ. And there are marksman on the walls, and surely a few aliens left with the guts to throw themselves into a Spartan shaped meatgrinder>Just sprint to the LZ and get the hell out of here (DC 17. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments -1 Badly wounded, Giant counters other penalties) >[Boogeyman] Point at Girkibus and draw a thumb across your throat and move like you're going to just march through the fire, hoping just to scare the prick off. >Ensure Chief Warrant Officer Chen's Safe land, by throwing every grenade you have (DC 18. +5 Grenadier, -1 Badly wounded)>[Diplomat 3] Hold the energy sword over the rags on the chair and hold the VIP who isn't here hostage as you fall back to LZ>write in option Things would've been bad if you hadn't that insta kill for as long as you did.
>>6482309>[Boogeyman] Point at Girkibus and draw a thumb across your throat and move like you're going to just march through the fire, hoping just to scare the prick off. >Ensure Chief Warrant Officer Chen's Safe land, by throwing every grenade you have (DC 18. +5 Grenadier, -1 Badly wounded)I don't see why these can't both work.
>>6482309>[Diplomat 3] Hold the energy sword over the rags on the chair and hold the VIP who isn't here hostage as you fall back to LZTime to bluff and get out of here, we have our Diplo trait to succeed.
>>6482309>[Diplomat 3] Hold the energy sword over the rags on the chair and hold the VIP who isn't here hostage as you fall back to LZ
>>6482309>>[Diplomat 3] Hold the energy sword over the rags on the chair and hold the VIP who isn't here hostage as you fall back to LZi just want to leave at this point i dont tust the rolls at this point for the next few days or the rest of this mission
>>6482309>>[Diplomat 3] Hold the energy sword over the rags on the chair and hold the VIP who isn't here hostage as you fall back to LZPreparation ensures success. Clearly by hoarding sure-fire abilities we prepared well. Let's also remember to use the chair as a shield between us and where the most accurate fire on the walls was coming from. Also so it makes it harder for them to see through the bluff.
>>6482309>[Diplomat 3] Hold the energy sword over the rags on the chair and hold the VIP who isn't here hostage as you fall back to LZHoly shit, that's been a roller coaster to come back to. Time to leave.
>>6482315>>6482316>>6482317>>6482320>>6482324AlsoDiplo gives us a chance to keep the chair.
>>6482309>>[Diplomat 3] Hold the energy sword over the rags on the chair and hold the VIP who isn't here hostage as you fall back to LZMaybe i can get Gik for free too....
I do want to say the build we made or have been making is successful at doing what we hoped it would do so at least we have that going for usits a shame we had to learn about it through SO MANY DAMN NAT 1'S
>>6482369>Okay dungeon master, this is my build.>You just handed me a piece of paper saying I can't kill you?>Correct.
>>6482369>>6482372Second time we got badly wounded on this mission. Gonna need to deligate again though thankfully. Atleast 7 Spartans of ours should still be at full health to one last run before we bail.
>>6482375im pretty sure we are done with this mission cause honestly we achieve every objective we set out to achieve plus morei dont think theirs anything else we can do from here on, not to mention they are gonna be freaking the fuck out now that we kidnapped a prophet so nows the time to pack the fuck up and leave
>>6482309Oh hey, what's...Oh. Oh god. Wow.>>6482295I can only assume that the unlock conditions were three Nat 1s in a combat, or preventing damage three times with abilities in the same combat.>[Diplomat 3] Hold the energy sword over the rags on the chair and hold the VIP who isn't here hostage as you fall back to LZLet's not go tempting fate any more. Lady luck seems to have it out for Sven today.
>>6482302And the legend of the Doom Slayer is born.
>>6482381Matbe survive several nat 1 on a mission which resets at mission end. So considering we've rolled about 5+ nat 1 on crow nest we unlocked it in the streak here.Maybe some Nat20s too since we did roll a few in crows nest.
>>6482369Might need a team to run distraction or defense considering we aren't exactly getting out smoothly from the base. Though if Vali kills alls commanders here out enemy should get confusion devuff.
>>6482391so they might be down one Spartan but my guess is that the other teams will be able to pick up the slack for Sven plus we can coordinate the defense and evac
>>6482404Yeh Indigo probably has to stay in the ship with us to rest and recover too. Plus best to have atleast one spartan team on guard duty to protect the ships worst case scenario.
>>6482309>>Just sprint to the LZ and get the hell out of here (DC 17. +5 Bulwark, +1 UA attachments -1 Badly wounded, Giant counters other penalties)
>>6482375>>6482378The final evacuation needs to be done. We also need to hear whats the status of Jai and Kurt, and their part of the mission. Since they where going to liberate a dig site of human slaves. Depends. There might be something coming our way Brute Captains shaped. And we have a narq pistol for it
Hopefully Gikirbus will be joined by Teckyis and Kestidion. These cousins should try their hand at jumping in the fire and fight us in melee.Narq them would be quite sweet, then simply throwing them in the pelican with that chair and sack of loot. Just like we did with the White Whale in the last moments of the first operation on AlphaCorvi-II. A most wonderful end. Come on cousins jump in the fire got darts with your names upon it.....
>>6482461ya we still have shit to do but its all in the same vain of leaving the planet
>>6482489Bro were badly woundedm trying to fight any of the commanders just unnecessary risk. Especially with all our skills burned.
>>6482546Yes, opportunity may arrive even in defense.>>6482560Ambition has not been stopped even with our wounds.If they come to us, we can fight them. Even in current conditions, we are very much combat-capable. Sven can reach a worse health status than this one and still fight. We only need to be in their body space, and they would be at risk of being narq and K.O.'d. A Spartan has little issue finding a gap where fur is visible even in a Sasquatch full armor. And hell, most of their helms are open-faced. Except Gik, who has modifications and even a gas mask due to being a poisoner type.It's quite likely the captains will probably notice the sack has no worm neck. These three have shown remarkable intelligence, cunning, and inventiveness. A last fight might just happen anyway. Which you already know, since the post you are replying to specifies an active defense against a possible attack of theirs.
>>6482569What would be the point of capturing them beyond adding another specimen to ONI's menagerie of covies?
>>6482576>eThese are three captains; two of them were plotting against each other for this Tribe throne, and right now they are just allies of convenience. So they're not just military; they are even swimming a bit in alien politics, mostly the internal politics of their Tribe, but who knows. If only I could get a word in with one of them....Anyway, they are valuable and have a lot of info and experience in the Covenant. Unrefutable point. And, in addition, all three are not like the usual alien Sasquatch leaders in the officer ranks we have seen. So they are very interesting captures, resembling the cunning and intelligence of their now very dead and defunct great-grandfather. Surpassing it even, in their own ways. Tecky's smarts and innovative use of humans, Gikirbus's use of poison and cunning, Kestidion's cautious nature trying to understand our tactics while also having a hard time not being reasonably scared. Besides, two of them are already potentially quite the malleable prisoners since they are quite scared of Sven.But let's look a bit back. Puf-Puf, a grunt infantryman we captured in this mission, provided plenty of information to us. And he is just a grunt private. Isn't that interesting ? But there is more. You see, this mission stands simply for a reason: Interrogations of enemies. Done quickly and brutally, but done all the same. Sven captured several brutes and interrogated them, painfully and fairly rapidly. They all provided useful information, but of course they all died; some were also severely wounded, but let's say Sven's methods are not always gentle with prisoners. Still, the heights of this mission couldn't have been reached without interrogations.So what happens if the captains just get narq'd and throw in a pelican? The answer is: they get interrogated for the rest of their lives. Ain't that incredible ? Single-handedly a free help to humanity, and 3 different sources of smart aliens.
>>6482627look your not wrong in that assessment but you seem to be forgetting or ignoring that we are about to bring back a prophet who knows the ins and outs of the covenant political scene
>>6482650No, not really; I am not forgetting about it. I just don't think it's enough. The Minister is just one guy and won't know everything—he represents one specific facet. Plus, the Minister, the Engineers, and Puf-Puf are basically all secured and ready to be shipped. The first two just need a lift to the LZ, which our 3 Spartans driving 2 modified CMA innie-huragok vehicles can handle like a Space FedEx job. Puf-Puf is already at the LZ anyway, so our Spartans can just throw him in a ship.These captains, on the other hand, are 3 walking carpet leaders with some amount of local political clout on top of their military ranks. It's not every day a prize like that is in front of us. I'm not suggesting we charge them; I'm saying Sven should have his Narq pistol ready if they come at us. Which they just might, because Sven is carrying on a chair a sack of loot that doesn't have a Prophet in it—something they'll realize the moment they actually look closely at it. With Chen soon to be very close by, it's too tempting to pass up if the opportunity presents itself.The Prophet in general is a goldmine for the Ministry of Archaeology, the High-Level Religious Hierarchy, High Charity Politics, and the Empire at large, but I doubt he knows anything, or too much, of the military. What does he know of this Brute Tribe, for example? Yes, he made a political alliance with Grandpa Brurilirus. I doubt their relation had gone beyond that. Or that the Minister is well informed on this Tribe. And I want to know about this Tribe, because they spawned several excellent Brute leaders. How big it is. How many apes they have. And so on. Tecky, Gik, and Kesti, as I said before, also have traits that make them valuable. I am not proposing to narq some Brute privates, this are genuine excellent captures for this alien apes. Beside having them can help in understanding sooner their tribal structure giving ONI better and more ways to ignite Jiralhanae civil wars on other planets, instead of only using what Sven learned. Tecky and Kesti are also already scared, which is half the work done for an interrogation. In fact, I am minimizing; they already have signs of PTSD from Sven. And then there is the issue: I don't want to leave them alive to adapt to our tactics, and they are exactly the kind of clever apes who might actually survive Vali's massacre if we don't finish them here.
>>6482675A glass can only hold so much water, anon.
>>6482705Perhaps.But has many would say, Sven is a tall glass of water.
Damn i want some water now.
>>6482809GAAAAAYYYYY!!!
[ Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache back online ] 1 vote for [Boogeyman]1 Vote to clear the landing zone7 votes for [ Diplomat 3 ] 1 vote to sprint for the LZSo, Sven is going to use the Diplomat 3 active ability to get out of this mess [ Decision made ] [ Proceeding... ]
>>6482932we about to hit them with the "Bye Fallica"
You're surrounded. In the sightlines of snipers and out in the open, the enemy commander with eyes directly on your position, ready to coordinate the soldiers who haven't lost their will to fight. No obvious way out, cavalry yet to arrive, squad following orders to get out and secure the target and finish the capture. Time to think out of the box. As far as you can tell, the sack of looted alien technology and knick knacks has been mistaken for the Covenant Minister. And while it isn't a mistake that would last long under scrutiny or even just a glance up close, with the AA guns firing at their own flyers and the panicked troops running for the walls and buildings, the wool won't be so easily pulled off their eyes.So, igniting the energy sword, you hold it just above the rags, and see, through the heat haze and smoke and azure fumes rising from the crashed Covie flyer, Gikirbus start, just stopping themselves from leaping over the volatile wreck, diving through the fire to reach you. That took a lot of restraint. They tilt their head, eyes locked on you as you lower the sword closer to the "Minister", his hand reaching for his firearm as you take a step back with the chair, and lift the blade. His hand remains close to his dart pistol. You bring the blade down, swifter. He squirms, and looks over his shoulder, giving a subtle signal with his head. You take another step back, lifting up the blade as you drag the chair backwards, turning it around as the ape across the pyre bellows, and waves their hands. He's smart. He restrained the urge to kill his enemy, the brute nature of his species, because he recognized you were bargaining. And that there'd be a chance to retrieve the Minister later. Not knowing they were probably a few klicks away from the fort already, and you were threatening their personal collection rather than the priest themself.More and more Covenant troops poured out, gathering around Gikirbus as you caught a few glints on the wall, but the gasmasked Sasquatch waved their hands and shouted down any challenge to their orders, Kig Yar, Unggoy and Jiralhanae all standing, tense and agitated as you they watched you slowly withdraw through the fort, capable of overwhelming you easily, but held back by their commander who realized that if they so much as twitched at you, their holy man would lose their head.You couldn't believe it was working. You held your breath, brow sweating as you counted more and more heads as the gun batteries thundered, pounding the skies. A familiar engine whine hissed in your ears as a Pelican Dropship came in hot. Reaper Spirit's style. One of his wings was smoke, with clear plasma scouring. Vali had perfect timing with the guns, knowing how Chen flies, any other Pilot would've been shot down.Cont
>>6482940The Dropship drops down, and you can hear Reaper Spirit cursing or praying in Mandarin. You can't tell which it is, with how tense and alert you are. Hard to translate when you've got over a hundred angry aliens glaring you down, seconds away from ignoring orders and rushing your position.The moment you push the chair up the landing pad, proves to be the spark point. As the Unggoy, of all aliens, yap and scream, sprinting across the field of burning wrecks, firing plasma pistols wildly as Gikirbus looks like he needs to change his pants as he starts shouting, and then starts shooting at the berserk hunchbacks. It isn't combat stims driving them berserk now, but pure religious fervor.You throw yourself into the troop bay, shouting "CLOSE THE RAMP!" As you hold onto the chair, keeping it steady as Reaper Spirit, who kept the engine hot, starts to lift off, as a hail of plasma peppers the back of the dropship. Two unggoy leap onto the wrap, barking and snaping. You just kick them off and send them tumbling down the sky. The last thing you see of the fort, is Gikirbus staring at you, expression hidden behind their mask, head tilted as they clearly track the flight path of the dropship. "Sir, I have no idea how you pulled that stunt off, but if being a unkillable cyborg badass doesn't work out, you can always consider a diplomatic career" Chen Tian said, sighing heavily as they patted down their chest "Doghouse took my last cigarette, Can't promise a smooth ride, hands are trembling. There must've been hundreds of Covies down there. How's it feel to cheat death, Askeland?""Isn't the first time, today" You breathe out as you deactivate the anti grav of the Ministers chair and secure it with straps "We clear of enemy ground fire? Any surviving flyers?""Should be, and doubt it. Outran most of them, and whatever aces in the making were still on my chair got shot down as I made my landing" He answers "...You wouldn't happen to have any...""I'll get you a sweet Williams cigar, when we return to the Skidbladnir" You chuckle, as you release the seal on your helmet, take it off, flip it around and inspect the damages, before wiping away the sweat from your brow with your intact glove. Vali probably wouldn't be able to do much more damage, though it was unknown how much damage they'd racked up already, but you noticed their attack on the fort wasn't as intense as expected. Which meant their focus was elsewhere, probably in the stars, on a covenat ship. That was a high value target, but you weren't sure how long they'd be able to sustain their digital war. And the moment they did, the Covenant COMMs would come back online, the unseen assistance they provided to cover your escape would cease, and any attack they launched against the Covies on the ground would stop
>>6482941The remaining time Vali had bought the mission, was entirely unknown. But it had lasted long enough for Violet team to escape the compound with the priority target and a big bonus. And it had to have made Thistle and Indigo's job easier.>Inform your squad that you're still alive, and get status reports from Violet, Indigo and Thistle as you have the Pelican fly for the Abandoned School >Keep in the air, to give Violet team a bigger window to "Disappear" the Minister and keep the heat off the other spartans>[Wunderkind+ Scrounger 3] Have Chen land in the wilderness and help you search the chair and loot on it for trackers >Rendezvous with Violet and have a friendly chat with the Covenant Holy Man when they wake up>Write in option
>>6482942>[Wunderkind+ Scrounger 3] Have Chen land in the wilderness and help you search the chair and loot on it for trackers>Inform your squad that you're still alive, and get status reports from Violet, Indigo and Thistle as you have the Pelican fly for the Abandoned School
>>6482942>>[Wunderkind+ Scrounger 3] Have Chen land in the wilderness and help you search the chair and loot on it for trackersI figure Chen could use a minute or two to destress from that. And it would be nice to take a second to write down what the buttons do so if someone else has to handle it they won't give themself a joyride on the lightning express.
>>6482942>>[Wunderkind+ Scrounger 3] Have Chen land in the wilderness and help you search the chair and loot on it for trackers>>Inform your squad that you're still alive, and get status reports from Violet, Indigo and Thistle as you have the Pelican fly for the Abandoned Schooli don't want to lead them back to our base and we can get an update while we work
>>6482942>Inform your squad that you're still alive, and get status reports from Violet, Indigo and Thistle as you have the Pelican fly for the Abandoned School>[Wunderkind+ Scrounger 3] Have Chen land in the Abandoned school and help you search the chair and loot on it for trackersRight status report for our next moves and also get rid of the trackers from the chair. We're too injured too act as distraction and we should have given enoight time to violet to disappear so no need to risk a fight yet.
>>6482942>[Wunderkind+ Scrounger 3] Have Chen land in the wilderness and help you search the chair and loot on it for trackers >Inform your squad that you're still alive, and get status reports from Violet, Indigo and Thistle as you have the Pelican fly for the Abandoned School
>>6482942>[Wunderkind+ Scrounger 3] Have Chen land in the wilderness and help you search the chair and loot on it for trackers
>>6482942>>Inform your squad that you're still alive, and get status reports from Violet, Indigo and Thistle as you have the Pelican fly for the Abandoned School >>>[Wunderkind+ Scrounger 3] Have Chen land in the wilderness and help you search the chair and loot on it for trackers >>>Send a status report to the Skadbladnir, inform them of our likely departure before long, get Rita thinking about problems with the holy man, and - most importantly - find out how badly Vali started fucking with the Covenant fleet before we break orbit. Gets popcorn.
>>6482942>[Wunderkind+ Scrounger 3] Have Chen land in the wilderness and help you search the chair and loot on it for trackers>Inform your squad that you're still alive, and get status reports from Violet, Indigo and Thistle as you have the Pelican fly for the Abandoned School Reasonable combo. Stop for a bit to get anything that might compromise our hidey holes first, then move to start grabbing people. Good job Chen.
>>6482942>>[Wunderkind+ Scrounger 3] Have Chen land in the wilderness and help you search the chair and loot on it for trackers>Inform your squad that you're still alive, and get status reports from Violet, Indigo and Thistle as you have the Pelican fly for the Abandoned School
>>6482942>[Wunderkind+ Scrounger 3] Have Chen land in the wilderness and help you search the chair and loot on it for trackersSeems the most important thing to do in my eyes.
>>6482942>[Wunderkind+ Scrounger 3] Have Chen land in the wilderness and help you search the chair and loot on it for trackers.>Inform your squad that you're still alive, and get status reports from Violet, Indigo and Thistle as you have the Pelican fly for the Abandoned School
>>6482913Nope !>>6482942>[Wunderkind+ Scrounger 3] Have Chen land in the wilderness and help you search the chair and loot on it for trackers>Inform your squad that you're still alive, and get status reports from Violet, Indigo and Thistle as you have the Pelican fly for the Abandoned SchoolHeh he was about to jump. Didn't have time to look at the loot sack enough Gik
>>6483097I hear you eat bananas for the shape, not the flavor.
[ Rebooting....Monitor 404TormentedCache back online ] Internet shat itself yesterday13 Votes for [WK+S]10 Votes to get status reports and fly to the school1 Vote to update the SkidbladnirSo, the pelican is going to take a pit stop in the wilderness, so Sven can search for trackers and Reaper Spirit can shake off his adrenaline, then get status reports and inform the rest of the squad Sven got out of the clusterfuck at the fort in one piece as they head to the empty school [ Decisions made ] [ Proceeding. ... ]
"Take us out a few klicks from the fort, somewhere quiet, isolated. Need to check the captured covenant tech for homing beacons" You said towards the cockpit, as you set down your damaged helmet and inspected the damage to your palm, brushing off a few chunks of partially melted sand from your armor as you reached up and pulled down a medical kit to perform some basic first aid on yourself, washing out the slash on your palm with disinfectant before sealing it with a quick spray of biofoam.Chen Tian gave a confirmation and you reached out to steady the chair as the Pelican banked and started a gradual descent. You could tell the pilot nerves were still tense, and you guessed it was more so due to the hot landing than the game of cat and house he'd played with the Covenant flyers on approach. And if it wasn't for his testimony and the flight logs, you have no doubt that the higher ups would doubt that events had played out like they had. It was unbelievable even with proof. And you doubted the combat footage of your helmet was entirely intact after the damage it had sustained. Electromagnetic interference, overheating and simple blunt force had to have damaged to internal memory at least a little.The Pelican lands somewhere in the mangrove swamps, nearby the base, the mud flats rippling as it hovers a meter off the ground, before settling in the muck. The hatch opens and ramp drops, and you drag out the chair. Chen Tian follows you, standard issue side arm in his hands as he followed you out of the drop ship and stayed on guard, clearing the immediate vicinity as you started to pat down and examine the chair and the contents of the rucksacks. The pilot continue patrolling the area, making sure the two of you were alone save for the native wild life and insects while you scoured the captured covenant items for anything that looked like a homing beacon."Know what you're looking for, Sir?" The Chief Warrant officer asked, coming up to your side. You nodded"Vaguely, it won't be integrated into the device and would be small enough to miss" You answer as he remains at attention and on guard "We're far enough from the fort to not have to worry about enemy patrols, help me look for it""If you say so. Got a more detailed description for this tag?""Only that it'll stand out, the throne is partially ceremonial, a sign of status. If it is on any of the recovered tech or artifacts, it will be someplace easily removed" It isn't exactly a scientific process, but it still takes a few minutes of close inspection and repeat passes to actually find the tracking device. It was, as expected, tiny and easily missed. Even smaller than you'd guessed it'd be. And it wasn't part of the throne, but something the Minister must've added after the demise of their predecessor.Cont
>>6483458 It was the size of a fed tick, made out of the common place dark purple alloy and was hidden in a crevice beneath the control panel of the throne, that you could only reach after removing a panel that contained a cylinder of cloudy, pale pink liquid. You disposed of the unknown substance and pinching the tracker between your fingers, careful not to crush it, handed it to Chen Tian who observed i and shook there head"They really have us beat in nearly every field, don't they" He scoffed, as he examined the device up close "What do you want to do with it?""Leave it here, have the Covenant go on a snipe hunt" You told him as his eyes flicked down to the water, and he crouched down, muddiing is uniform up to its knees as he studied the gently rippling water and shot his hand down, pulling up a fish by the tail with a smirk"Found our snipe" He said, as he stuffed the tracker in the thrashing fishes mouth and tossed it further into the swamp "Creative, I like it" You chuckle "How long until we can get airborn?""Engines should still be hot" He answers, and that answers your question. Nodding, you follow him into the cockpit and look out through the windshield out at the swamp"Take us to the secondary base, the schoolyard" You instruct and his eyes dim."Wish we could've done more, before the general retreat" He said somberly as you nod, and turn your attention to the COMM unit in the pilot cabin"Spartans, this is Sven-033 with Reaper Spirit. I've successfully extradited myself from the clusterfuck at the former insurrectionist fort" You report over the general secured frequency "Sir, I request one free punch when we meet back up" Nesta snapped immediately as Chen Tian strapped himself in "I'm going to do it anyway, But I want it on the record that I asked for permission first""Had us worried for a moment, Sven" Jorge said heavily "Glad you got out alright""Malcom and I had to keep Nesta from taking Doghouse for a joy ride" James chuckles, before you hear a scuffle on the other end"I'll like to see the combat footage of your great escape" Malcolm said simply "Cal and Anton are busy babysitting our new friends""Sounds like we missed out on all the fun" Jai quipped "Thistle? Your mission was successful?" You asked before the COMM could fill with chatter"As successful as it could be" Kurt answered, sounding spent, must've been a hell of a fight on their end "Suffered no friendly causalities, and none of us were injured too badly. Even managed to save a few more lives""Weren't many prisoners left in those digsites" Illya explained bitterly "But, we got the ones we could out""And made sure those Covie bastards paid for it" Adriana added "Threw the ringleader down a mineshaft, and sent a daisy chain of grenades after them" Jai said "Collapsed the shaft ontop of him. Kurt knew exactly where to lead us""Just trusted my instincts and followed the signs" Kurt, humbly explainedCont
>>6483459"Indigo?" You ask, knowing Kurt will give a more detailed explanation than that once the mission was done and you were all out of the line of fire"Ostrum and the 474th work fast" Nesta answered simply "Transport ships should be space worthy ahead of schedule""Helps that we're doing all the heavy lifting for them" Jorge joked "When we're not stopping a certain redcap from going AWOL" James snorted"I figured you of all of us would know the Lieutenant Commander can't die" Malcolm said"Oh if I actually got on the pelican, all three of you would've followed me" Nesta said, calmly "So, heard you picked up some new friends?""Classified until we can get them to a secure area" You said, and ignored Nesta's response as smart mouthing to a superior officer was a punishable offense, especially with the language she used."Mind if I stay onboard when we land?" Chen Tian asked, long after you shut off the COMMs, as he brought the pelican in on approach to the LZ "Don't like the energy of this place, feels like a graveyard""Keep this bird ready to fly" You tell him, as the abandoned schoolyard came into sight >[Artificial Artisan] Try to get into contact with Vali, or at least find out what the AI has done after being let loose>Rest here and use the schoolyard as a rally point for all three teams to regroup before figuring out the next, and last stage of the mission.>Chat with Chen Tian and ask him about his service and how he learned to fly so good.>Solemnly prepare a pyre for the dead here, since it feels wrong to just leave the bones behind >Write in option
>>6483459Great idea from Chen. What he just did, combined with Vali being unleashed, means we have an excellent window of time
>>6483460The next part is the Evac. Of course it won't be that simple; we have two secret camps to evacuate. We can be pretty sure the 4 cousins and captains are all searching for us after the nukes and after the attack on the ex innie fort and minister tower. Cossuzeus was still occupied in Jamshid when the city was further drowned, and then a nuke hit. Gikirbus, Kestidion, and Teckyis, as we have seen, were all at the ex-innie fort and minister tower.What we have to Evac:- Spartans.- Mainly just the adults of the different civilian groups collected across Alpha Corvi II (we made a priority for children and teens to go up first, alongside the ones too injured)- 4 different Guerrilla Forces (Smithson CMA Guerrilla, Saboteurs Guerrilla, Innie Guerrilla of Kaitoa[RIP Kaitoa himself], CMA 474th Guerrilla of Kibe)- Deployed TYPHON vehicles (no-brainer, since we have here the entire TYPHON vehicle roster)- Covenant Loot (partially; some of it is already gone up, but we have collected more before during these days and of course right now. Needs to be loaded up)- Covenant Prisoners (Puf-Puf is at the ex ONI Blacksite Camp; Minister and the Gas Balls are moving by vehicles to a secret camp)- The two innie-huragok modified vehicles (warthog and scorpion), free requisitioned vehicles.What we have for the Evac:- Civilian Spaceships on the ground. These should be able to carry most of the civilian groups still on the ground and the guerrilla forces, and we should be able to put some vehicles in them too.- UNSC Skidbladnir, we have loaded it up a fair bit, but it should have some amount of space to use still. Alien prisoners should go here.Secret Camps under us:- Abandoned School, a building that had a history of different uses before it became a school. The place is mostly intact and fully abandoned. Filled with human bones. Part of the civilian groups was split here to avoid overcrowding the 1 secret camp.- Ex-ONI Blacksite, broken, destroyed, a lot of it underwater, and a cemetery of alien bones. We have already fortified this secret camp, prepared traps around it, and made it spookier. Covenant have largely avoided this place, considering it cursed. The Queen of Hearts Scorpion Tank is here, in need of repairs.I think our best option is having 2 Guerilla forces and 1 Spartan squad direct the Evac toward the civilian spaceships on the ground. We loaded them up with most of the stuff we have on the ground. Meanwhile, most of the Spartans and the other 2 Guerilla forces are going to attract the aliens toward the E-ONI Blacksite. We will kill them through the jungle and shores of Alpha Corvi II without committing to a fight. Then they arrive at the Ex-ONI Blacksite, where we will have prepared the field of battle in such a way as to guarantee a massacre. If everything goes well, we evac, and that force of Covenant is broken. Making the Ex-ONI Blacksite a truly cursed place for aliens. Possibly we capture the 1 or more of the Captains.
>>6483460>>Solemnly prepare a pyre for the dead here, since it feels wrong to just leave the bones behindthen>[Artificial Artisan] Try to get into contact with Vali, or at least find out what the AI has done after being let loosewe got the time now to give them as close to a proper funeral now that they dont have any fliers around
>>6483460>Rest here and use the schoolyard as a rally point for all three teams to regroup before figuring out the next, and last stage of the mission.The plan ahead.>Solemnly prepare a pyre for the dead here, since it feels wrong to just leave the bones behindsmokeless preferably.
>>6483460>Solemnly prepare a pyre for the dead here, since it feels wrong to just leave the bones behindGood for the soul.>Rest here and use the schoolyard as a rally point for all three teams to regroup before figuring out the next, and last stage of the mission.This gets us start the plan for exit and we should probably start it now that we got all objectives and have the ships ready.
>>6483460change my vote >>6483468to>Solemnly prepare a pyre for the dead here, since it feels wrong to just leave the bones behind>Rest here and use the schoolyard as a rally point for all three teams to regroup before figuring out the next, and last stage of the mission.i dont really care what Vali did now that i thought on it
>>6483460>[Artificial Artisan] Try to get into contact with Vali, or at least find out what the AI has done after being let looseWe need to know if we have an orbital window or not. Whatever he managed to do, if any thing, up in orbit will only last so long before he's burnt out.
>>6483460>[Artificial Artisan] Try to get into contact with Vali, or at least find out what the AI has done after being let loose>Solemnly prepare a pyre for the dead here, since it feels wrong to just leave the bones behind
>>6483460>>[Artificial Artisan] Try to get into contact with Vali, or at least find out what the AI has done after being let looseThis is a must-have - we absolutely must have this information. We were counting on that little demon to sucker punch the Covenant and create enough confusion that we can load up everyone and make our getaway. If he has succeeded, fantastic. We're able to make our plans knowing what has happened. If he has failed, we need to know really fucking quick so that we can either prepare for an attack much earlier than we expected, or go on the run before for the Covenant finds us.Furthermore, we absolutely, positively NEED to be talking to the Skad. If we CAN'T get a hold of Vali - or if Vali is so psychopathic right now that he can't give us a coherent answer - then we need revised intel reports from the Skad to inform our next moves. If all of a sudden every single Banshee in the fleet starts to head down and perform a grid search in a desperate attempt to locate the prophet, it means there's enough of a central command left that Vali probably failed to nutpunch the Covenant fleet. If the Skad responds with "what the fuck sir half of them are burning and the other half are doing the macarena", it's fair to say that there's the confusion that we need. Either way, our time on this world is over. We don't need to lure in more forces so we can withdraw in a Helldivers style blaze of glory - this mission has already succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of HQ.Issue our orders. Alien samples first, allies second, us third (if we have to run, we can do so a lot better than our allies can).Oh, and if we DO need to run, just hop in the subs and head for deep water.
>>6483535No, my idea is different and not related to Helldivers. It's not a blaze of glory—it's a fighting withdrawal that concludes in a merciless, horrific ambush. We bleed them through the jungle and shores first, then drag whatever force the Captains manage to rally straight into a fortified tomb they already think is cursed, wiping them out on our terms, on our conditions.Even with the chaos we caused, I wouldn't count those Captains out; they have everything on the line right now, and they will organize a pursuit. We have seen them. Our Spartans have seen them. They are neither quitters nor dumb (Kestidion is a tad of a coward and not just cautious, but he will support his cousins; he'd be an idiot not to do so, because the Brute Tribe cannot afford to fail this hard on this world. Grandpa Brurilirus already died, and they've faced multiple land defeats/setbacks. Teckyis is a clever and innovative ape that has PTSD from Sven. Even so, he will try to find us, because his military and political career is going to be destroyed otherwise. Gikirbus is a cold-blooded killer and a poisoner who wants power; enough said, he will hunt us down. Cossuzeus is the usual brute war-dog leader; he will want to try and kill us since we gave so many problems to his cousins and because he loves killing and combat. He was also wounded by Kaitoa; he would want payback).You do make a fair point about needing to know the extent of Vali's damage to see if orbital reinforcements are coming. However, there is an immediate problem with trying to contact Vali directly. Vali is currently embedded inside at least some of the Covenant network infrastructure on the ground and the digital networks of their ships. The aliens weren't ready for an AI attack, so he definitely jumped them—which means right now their Engineers, ship AIs, and Technicians are scrambling to trace, block, and purge/destroy what he infected.Opening a comms link to Vali risks letting them trace the signal right back to us. Unless we specifically want to give Vali new orders, it might be way safer to contact the Skidbladnir for an orbital sitrep instead. In fact. Perhaps it could be an idea to make a write-in to contact the Skidbladnir right now.
>>6483460>[Artificial Artisan] Try to get into contact with Vali, or at least find out what the AI has done after being let loose.>Solemnly prepare a pyre for the dead here, since it feels wrong to just leave the bones behind After we've got a status report from Vali:>Chat with Chen Tian and ask him about his service and how he learned to fly so good.The pyre is going to be grim work and talking will help pass the time while we work.
>>6483555I hope our funny gas bag friends are okay. I wanna see if any of them are any good with upgrading shit on our ships.
>>6483563Maybe we should bring them to the ships we plan on using to ferry the survivors off world.
>>6483563>>6483568Not sure how wise it would be to put them near the survivors of the world. Be they guerrillas or civilians, the Alpha Corvians don't have a good memory of aliens from the occupation time of Alpha Corvi II. Sven needed to talk to reassure them about simply accepting having Puf-puf in a cell at the secret camp, as a prisoner that they wouldn't touch. Because for them, it was a monster. Best the gas balls are sent in the Skid; the civilian ships are nearly ready by Nesta words.
>>6483549Dude. The point with the operation was to disrupt Covenant operations. We have succeeded.Why further combat? There's. No. Fucking. Point. We've already won - take the win.
>>6483568so the question now is do we do a once around the island to see if there are any other survivors or do we do put out a small broadcast hoping someone answers
>>6483568I mean part of our deal I's helping them heal the civilians who are most I jured. So yes probably with civs with us calming down civs while they get healed.
>>6483460>>[Artificial Artisan] Try to get into contact with Vali, or at least find out what the AI has done after being let loose
>>6483679The operation also explicitly includes dealing with their commanders:>Destabilize local Covenant Chain of Command / Neutralize Area Leaders & CommandersIt's a secondary objective, but it's there. All 4 land Captains are very alive and acting. It does help this objective that we killed a Yanme Queen, that we killed Chieftain Brurilirus, and that the new Minister of Archeology is wrapped up and ready to go up in the Skid. But these 4 Captains exist; it is not entirely complete if we look at that fact.You don't get why I propose this. This is not further combat for the sake of fighting, anon. It's not a glorious last stand. And no, we haven't already won, and things are not concluded—we are still on Alpha Corvi II. I don't want us to sit around and pray everything goes smoothly during the evac. These captains will search for us—there is no cutscene where we just fade to black and get away for free.All those civilians, all four guerrilla groups, the loot, and our vehicles need to be moved and loaded up. That takes time, and it will be spotted. Moving the majority of our survivors and forces from hidden camps to a single cluster of vulnerable civilian transports creates a visible location, and the heat signatures from those ships warming up will also be noticed.The point is keeping the evac site safe and making sure the force being rallied right now by the 4 Captains goes where we want it. We don't wait and hope they never notice us; we act and abuse our tools/knowledge and what we prepared already at the Ex-ONI Blacksite. Chen's fish trick and Vali's mayhem will buy us a window, but again, we are not dealing with dumb commanders here. We are not safe even if Vali dealt a severe blow to the Covenant fleet in space, because this 4 guys are still here and have plenty of troops still to command on the ground. I don't want a possible battle breaking out near the civilian ships, because I don't underestimate what we're dealing with on the ground. Drawing their attention into a prepared ambush at the Blacksite is how we make certain the transports actually make it off-world.>>6483713Gonna need to be a tight guard; even with a Sven silver-tongued speech and being already a hero in their eyes, this is a bit different than asking them to just ignore an alien prisoner and not kill it. This is Sven that needs to convince them to get touched by aliens again. Last time aliens touched them? Dismembering them, torturing, beating, abusing, outright eating them, and so on. I would suggest having the gas balls under the supervision of Rita. Having an angelic, maternal medical AI hologram around alongside them should further help reassure the civilians and keep them calm. Should reinforce Sven's speech.
>>6483768You know those shields that the jackal use? Are we skilled enough to rip one off a corpse and jurry rig it for use? Would help if we have to work with injuries and damaged armor.
>>6483797It has become a standard practice for the Spartans II teams to grab any Jackal/Tengu shield they find or can loot, and then attach them to an arm. Or simply bring them home. We are capable of retrieving them intact and putting them on our armor if they weren't blown up in a fight; Sven didn't try his hand with destroyed ones. But I imagine our more tech-savvy brothers and sisters could cook up something even with broken covenant equipment.Jackal shields only have a slightly problematic fit since they are intended for birdies, but Spartans have used them in this quest without many issues. Also, scientists at the MJONIR project are considering an improvement for better arm attachments for this type of retrieved battle loot.We should have some looted ones in the loot pile.
No update tonight, late announcement I know, but I needed to give a friend some emotional support so I missed the window to put out an update at a reasonable hour/ before I got too tired too write. Shouldn't have any issue tomorrow, though
>>6484035Bro has friends
>>6484035But Black dynamite, I'm a friend that needs updates! good on you QM, As always take as long as you need.
[ Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache, back online ] 5 Votes to build a funeral pyre5 votes for [Artificial Artisan]3 Votes to rest and regroup1 Vote to chat with Chief Warrant Officer ChenSven will give the dead their last respects and try to get into Contact with Vali or at least get a damage report on the Covenant. [ Decisions made ] [ Proceeding.... ] >>6484162That you are
The Pelican's engines go quiet, returning peace and quiet to the schoolyard. You step off the ramp, and just stand there for a few seconds taking in the view. Committing it to memory, and for an instant imagining it in better days, before the Covenant Invasion. Before the students and teachers here were massacred by alien zealots. This will be the last time you'll ever see the schoolyard, unless the UNSC one day reclaims Alpha Corvi II from Covenant hands, assuming it isn't reduced to a ball of glass drifting in the black before a counter offensive; if one could be launched, is started. Something twists in your gut, cold and biting, but familiar. For a moment, you're back in your recovery room after ASTER, drawing the brothers and sisters who were left behind, the dead and the ruined. You're standing in ceremony, putting on a stoic face as the losses were given to cold, uncaring space and the unlucky ones were wheeled out to attend.Spartans don't officially exist, but even the thirty four who died on the operating table, never seeing real combat were honored and given proper burials in space. It didn't feel right to leave these kids and their guardians to the elements or whatever desecration the Covenant would commit upon them. They were Civilians, but how many of them were your age or even younger? How many of them, student and teacher, had died as heroes, spending their final moments trying to save lives. It wasn't right, leaving them here, abandoning them. Without saying a word, you began to prepare a pyre, using the survival skills you learned to build a smokeless fire stack. Chen Tian, despite his misgivings, silently joined you in the effort. You acknowledged his assistance with a silent nod and continued the solemn duty. The final foundation of the Pyre covered a quarter of the turf and dirt track, wider than it was tall. Then you began gathering the bones, carrying them with all the respect and honor afforded to casualties and heroes of war as you began to lay them on the pyre. It felt right to put the bones of Maurice Schmitt on first. He'd given his all buying the Civilians here a few more, priceless seconds of life, it was only fitting he'd be their herald to whatever awaited them on the otherside. And following that train of thought, he was joined first by the remains of the others who had clearly died in the line of a duty that had not been commanded of them, who'd died as unknown heroes of a war that lasted minutes. Then, you organize the remains based on size.Chen Tian stands at attention, providing a vigil of one as you transport the bones to the unlit pyre, pulling down his service cap over his eyes as you do your best to ignore your tears as you carry the dead to their final resting place. It would've been faster to carry them together, but that would've been disrespectful, so you carry them individually to the pyre and keep their remains separate even as you pile them.Cont
>>6484212When it is done, the funeral pyre looks like something from your nearly forgotten childhood day dreams of the viking ancestors you had been raised to venerate. You stood at attention, and snapped a salute. Chen Tian removed his cap and opened his mouth as if he was about speak, before his expression froze and he bowed his head"Nothing I could say feels respectful. I think its better if we maintain silence" He says, and you agree with him. This wasn't their belief or tradition, but it was the only burial they could be given. Walking up, you lit the accelerants you had soaked into the pyre's foundation and watch the fires rise, dancing and jumping as they reached the bones. Which, shortly, began to crack as they glowed with heat. The heat radiated over you and the chief warrant officer, who despite his burn scars, took a step closer and breathed in the hot air"This is what we're fighting for" You broke the silence "To prevent this""This is what we're fighting for" Chen Tian repeats, replacing his cap and watching the flames. Shortly after, you received word that Thistle Team was approaching the rendezvous point, as the pyre still burned. You took the time before they arrived to try to get into contact with Vali, using one of the Schools own terminals to make the attempt to reduce risk of the AI jumping to the Pelican. And you're able to track the progress of their rampage, at least, finding signs of them across the colony briefly through static bursts and Vali's tell tale behavior. But you aren't able to establish a communication line with them, they're moving too quickly, too frantically. If they could, the terminal wouldn't last long, but you can tell that they're wrecking havoc across the Covenant garrison.And not just planetside. Most of the activity is actually off world. You ping and recieve responses from orbit. Approximately in the location of the Covenant blockade. And further beyond, past the colony's gravity well. Looking out the open window, you watch the sky and while it might just be your imagination, you think you see a new "star" twinkle into being."Give them hell, son of Loki" You say, knowing that this fork of Vali is giving their last hurrah, but that the data gathered on the mission was preserved and ready to be transferred to the main branch of the program. There was a possibility that some of the learning from Jamy's code could also be included, considering that administrative AI's unusual protective instinct, could improve Vali's own performance and behavior. Make it easier for them to play nice, but that could also reduce their effectiveness, crossing code. At least, you wanted to examine Jamy's programming."Sir. Spartan Kurt-051 reports that the survivors of the mining camps want to meet you, face to face" Chen Tian calls out from beside the Pelican, one ear pressed to a headset. Cont
>>6484214>Ask the survivors if they know what the Covenant was looking for>Give them the good news, that an escape plan was ready and the Covenant Leadership on Alpha Corvi II had been crippled>Give them your official rank and Spartan designation, and see why they wanted to meet you face to face>Explain the pyre and all them time to mourn/ deal with their own grief while you wait for Violet and Indigo to regroup>Write in option
>>6484216>Ask the survivors if they know what the Covenant was looking for
>>6484216>Give them your official rank and Spartan designation, and see why they wanted to meet you face to face>Ask the survivors if they know what the Covenant was looking forThis should be easy to combo and we can keep the exit secret for now just to keep opsec.Also good on Vali taking down a ship. Should give us an opening to bail.
>>6484216>Give them your official rank and Spartan designation, and see why they wanted to meet you face to face>Ask the survivors if they know what the Covenant was looking for
>>6484216>>Give them your official rank and Spartan designation, and see why they wanted to meet you face to face>Ask the survivors if they know what the Covenant was looking for
>>6484216>Give them your official rank and Spartan designation, and see why they wanted to meet you face to faceThis fork of Vali is having the time of his life.
>>6484216>Give them the good news, that an escape plan was ready and the Covenant Leadership on Alpha Corvi II had been crippled>Explain the pyre and all them time to mourn/ deal with their own grief while you wait for Violet and Indigo to regroup
>>6484214>Most of the activity is actually off world.AHAHAHAHAHAHA YESSSSS BURN BITCHES! VALI, THIS IS WHAT YOU WERE BORN FOR!CALL THE SKAD RIGHT NOW! I WANT CASUALTY COUNTS AND TO HEAR ABOUT THE B-U-F-F WITH VALI IN IT!Seriously, they're going to make a propaganda film about us. Also, it just occurred to me that Vali might remain active after we leave and Covenant reinforcements show up. *happy fapping noises*
>>6484216>>Give them your official rank and Spartan designation, and see why they wanted to meet you face to face>>Ask the survivors if they know what the Covenant was looking forgreat!
